What is the Apple IIGS - Newsfeed http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/ Sweet 16 Makes Progress http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/sweet-16-makes-progress/ <p>Eric Shepherd has been making very good progress on updating <a href="http://www.sheppyware.net/software-mac/sweet16/index.html">Sweet 16 for MacOS X</a> - finally perhaps paving the way for user friendly IIGS emulation on a contemporary operating system.</p><p>However, it hasn't got the approval of Bernie ][ the Rescue's original authors, Henrik Gudat and Andr&eacute; Horstmann, who are both MIA, and Sweet 16 cannot be released without their consent. Sweet 16 is based on the core of Bernie and couldn't exist without it. If you know how to reach Henrik or Andr&eacute;, please let them know of the efforts Eric has made with Sweet 16 and his very generous offer of letting any potential proceeds of Sweet 16 go back to the original authors. Alternatively, you can also politely support Eric's work on Bernie's own <a href="http://www.bernie.gs/Feedback/index.php">forum</a>.</p> Sat, 22 Apr 2006 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/sweet-16-makes-progress/ The Lone Entry of 2005 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/the-lone-entry-of-200/ <p>Another year ticks over! Just a quick message to say that I'm still alive and kicking, although work on this archive isn't - but that's mainly because nobody has contributed anything in the last year!</p> <p>Some worthwhile news: The Apple IIGS gets a write up in the UK mag <a href="http://www.retrogamer.net/">Retro Gamer</a> although the editor completely removed the interview with me and writer of the article Jason Walsh (note too that since originally writing this article, Retro Gamer is no longer published by Live Publishing). On the plus side, however, the magazine also includes features on games the Last Ninja and Dungeon Master and both articles make mention of the IIGS versions of each of these games - and include either screen shots or box imagery from the Fairway! Hopefully this will be a trend in future issues and the IIGS versions of games will appear alongside the more popular European systems.</p> Fri, 07 Jan 2005 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/the-lone-entry-of-200/ Two New Archives http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/two-new-archives/ <p>Hello again! That's right, the Fairway's back, bigger and better than ever before, now on a brand new server together with two new Apple IIGS archives!</p> <p>French speaking IIGS users rejoice! I have included French language versions of the following games: The Bard's Tale, Defender of the Crown, Life &amp; Death, Monte Carlo and Rocket Ranger.</p> <p>I have also included some new memorabilia - promos for Destroyer, World Games and PBI's games.</p> <p>You can continue to help out the Fairway with game box or archive submissions by uploading files via FTP:</p> <p><span><span><span style="text-decoration: line-through;">whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za<br /> username: apple2gs<br /> password: apple2gs</span></span></span></p> <p>(Please use the new&nbsp;<a title="You Can Help!" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/you-can-help/" target="_blank">submission</a>&nbsp;system)</p> <p>For convenience, I have also separated all previous News into their respective years.</p> Wed, 24 Mar 2004 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/two-new-archives/ Minor Updates http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/minor-updates/ <p>Some minor updates: I've added a pop up menu on the home page so you can quickly jump to your favourite Apple IIGS games! External links now open a new browser window and I've added a few things to the FAQ.</p> Mon, 23 Jul 2001 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/minor-updates/ Old School Updates http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/old-school-updates/ <p>Some updates! Dan Chisarick has sent in heaps of game box scans: California Games, Deja Vu 1 and 2, Hacker II, Omega, Test Drive 2 California Challenge and Supercars. Big thanks to Dan for all of these!</p> <p>Olivier Goguel, ex-lead programmer for the Free Tools Association, has created a page dedicated to the memory of the FTA. The page is still under construction, but includes music from the Nucleus Demo of 1989, in MP3 or RealAudio format.</p> <p>Incidentally, and I forgot to mention this with my last update all those months ago, Ninja Force's <a href="http://www.ninjaforce.com/">webpage</a> features reviews and downloads of IIGS 'scene' demos, including demos created by Ninja Force themselves, the FTA, the GSA, the East Coast Connection and others.</p> Sun, 10 Jun 2001 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/old-school-updates/ The Fairway Version 2.0 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/the-fairway-version-2/ <p>Welcome to the Fairway v2.0! New in this update is a new user interface, large sized game box images, a pre-installed version of System 6 on a 4 meg 2image volume, character disks included with Bard's Tale 1 &amp; 2, no broken links, re-proofed text, more promotional images and the inclusion of Easter Eggs for a few games.</p> <p><a href="http://www.bernie.gs/Download/Parts/bernieconsumer3.html">Bernie ][ the Rescue v3.0</a> preview was released around Christmas. A nice present indeed, as its primary improvements have been made with games in mind - a new full screen mode and incredible improvements to sound.</p> <p>In other news, <a href="http://www.cinemaware.com">Cinemaware</a> has well and truely began work on their next generation of games. They're currently working on Wings for the Gameboy Advance, but their biggest game in development is Robin Hood: Defender of the Crown. I wouldn't normally do this kind of thing, in that this request isn't relevant to the IIGS, but if Mac users who would be interested in that game becoming available for the Mac, please visit Cinemaware's site and let them know it's not just PC, Playstation 2 and Xbox gamers that want Robin Hood: DOTC.</p> Sun, 25 Feb 2001 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/the-fairway-version-2/ Minor Updates http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/minor-updates-2/ <p>New thumbnails for Manhunter New York, GBA Basketball, Impossible Mission 2, Superstar Ice Hockey (thanks David Graton) Life &amp; Death and Aaargh! (thanks Gary Boettcher). There is an updated list of box scans I'm still after below. Also added is a newer version of Dungeon Master, thanks to Brendan Bellina, that includes a patched version which allows the user to save on the same disk as the application as well as letting you to play from System 6!</p> Sat, 22 Jul 2000 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/minor-updates-2/ Ultima I Archive Removed http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/ultima-i-archive-removed/ <p>I have been asked to remove Ultima I from the Fairway as it is currently being prepared for re-release by&nbsp;<a href="http://users.foxvalley.net/~joko/ultima.html" target="_blank" title="Ultima I purchase">Shareware Solutions II</a>. I have done so.</p> <p>Sorry for the lack of updates, but my academic commitments have priority over the Fairway. Just a nice little tidbit for you all: Mitch Spector sent me word that <a href="http://www.cinemaware.com">Cinemaware</a> has been reborn! They aren't detailing plans for new games yet, but their rationale is the creation of games as equally enjoyable to what they had been creating since Defender of the Crown. Thanks for the news Mitch, although I'm over a month late in sharing it, it was certainly great to check out when I first got your email regarding Cinemaware's return!</p> Wed, 29 Mar 2000 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/ultima-i-archive-removed/ Bernie v2.6 Released http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/bernie-v2-6-released/ <p>Bernie ][ the Rescue 2.6 has been released. Apart from even cooler integration between the Mac OS and GS/OS, mouse support has been improved, now allowing Teenage Queen to be played properly.</p> <p>I was mailed by a couple of people mentioning that Le Manoir de Mortvielle is not a finished game, and therefore can't be played properly. I fixed a few links to different emulators on the Welcome page. Alessandro Bonzi has sent in a scan for the Immortal, a thumbnail of it now replacing the existing hack I made.</p> Sun, 23 Jan 2000 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/bernie-v2-6-released/ New Year Goodies http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/new-year-goodies/ <p>Lots of little goodies for the new year.&nbsp;<a href="http://www.brutal-deluxe.fr" target="_blank" title="Brutal Deluxe Software">Brutal Deluxe</a>&nbsp;programmer, Antoine Vignau, has written a crack for Gold Rush, so playing the game no longer requires the manual! Antoine has also sent in two unreleased games: Passengers on the Wind and Le Manoir de Mortvielle.</p> <p>Nicolas Bergeret has sent in a scan for Full Metal Planete, which I believe is from the IIGS version, which was actually released in France. Nick should know, because he did the graphics for the IIGS version!</p> <p>Chris Klimas has typed up the manual for Final Assault, the mountaineering game that's had me stumped on how to play it for years.</p> <p>Lastly, <a href="http://kegs.sourceforge.net/">KEGS</a>, the Apple IIGS emulator for Unix, Linux and OS/2 has been updated to version 0.57.</p> Sun, 02 Jan 2000 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/new-year-goodies/ 3427 Unique Visitors! http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/3427-unique-visitors/ <p>Hard Code, owner of Inwards, has informed me that the Fairway has received 3427 unique visitors, which I'm very glad to say has surpassed my expectation of just how popular the Fairway is. Having said that however, I'm disappointed there haven't been over 3000 offers to submit scans of the remaining game boxes that are still on the wanted list ;-)</p> <p>Some fun links for you all: Ninjaforce has opened their funky new page at, oddly enough, <a href="http://www.ninjaforce.com/">www.ninjaforce.com</a>. Nice domain! Check out the latest screenshots of their up and coming IIGS game Kaboom!</p> <p>Also, check out Aaron R. Willis' <a href="http://aaronwillisillustration.net/classicfantasyepics/wimehome.html">page</a> devoted to the IIGS game War in Middle Earth.</p> Mon, 29 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/3427-unique-visitors/ ShrinkIt Archive Additions and other Udpdates http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/shrinkit-archive-additions-and-other-udpdates/ <p>The ShrinkIt! archive is now online! Owners of real Apple IIGS machines are now able to download each archive to use on their real equipment. It is recommended that when downloading the ShrinkIt! archives, that you force your browser to download to a file, by either selecting the command by the contextual menu that appears when the mouse button is held down or using the right mouse button. Alternatively, hold down the option key on the Mac and click on the link and for the PC, I believe it's shift.</p> <p>There's a whole new bunch of updated thumbnail images: 4th &amp; Inches, Jack Nicklaus Golf, Shanghai, Hunt for Red October, Tower of Myraglen (thanks Lachlan Arnott), Roadwar 2000, Mini Putt, Space Quest 1, Paperboy (thanks Michael Bradley), Monte Carlo (thanks Frank Bannon) and Qix (thanks to myself on that one).</p> Wed, 03 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/shrinkit-archive-additions-and-other-udpdates/ Full Metal Planete Addition http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/full-metal-planete-addition/ <p>Added the virtually unheard of game, Full Metal Planete. Added better thumbnail images for Arkanoid II, Bubble Ghost, Dark Castle, Defender of the Crown, Final Assault, Jigsaw and Shadowgate. Thanks goes to John Balestrieri for all of these new scans. Subsequently, the wanted game box scan list has been updated. Keep em coming guys!</p> Tue, 28 Sep 1999 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/full-metal-planete-addition/ Bernie ][ the Rescue v2.5 and iGS Released http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/bernie-the-rescue-v2-5-and-igs-released/ <p><a href="http://www.bernie.gs/Bernie/">Bernie ][ the Rescue 2.5</a> has been released! The new version supports better integration between GS/OS and the Mac OS, i.e. you can now simply drag and drop files between the Mac and IIGS desktops. More importantly for gamers however, is that sound has been improved - no more low volume problems. Testing the new version myself, I have to report that it's absolute aural bliss now. There don't appear to be any incompatibility fixes for games however, apart from the exception that Mean 18 now takes key input every fourth second or so, but the sound improvement has been worth waiting for.</p> <p>On the same day that the new version of Bernie has been released, Mac users were doubly blessed. A new version of XGS, for PowerPC and 68k Macs has been released. The new version is now called iGS, the 'i' standing for 'improved'. The program is a lot easier to use now, not to mention that it's useable at all; previous versions of XGS failed to run with MacOS 8.5 or higher. Get it from Michael Bytnar's <a href="http://www.openprojects.rarcoa.com/~justmike/XGS-Mac/">XGS page</a>.</p> <p>Still no joy for Windows users wanting to emulate the IIGS. I haven't heard of XGS development becoming anyone's priority, nor do I know what happened to reports of a promising emulator called dApple. If anyone has information regarding IIGS emulators for Windows, contact me so the word can be spread to relieve the suffering of Windows users everywhere. In the meantime, they could always install BeOS and checkout <a href="http://www.sheppyware.net/software-beos/sweet16/index.html">Sweet 16</a>!</p> Wed, 22 Sep 1999 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/bernie-the-rescue-v2-5-and-igs-released/ The Fairway's New Home http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/the-fairway-s-new-home/ <p>As you may have noticed for the past two weeks, the Fairway has moved to its new home at Inwards. Thanks bigtime to Hard Code for hosting the archive on Inwards. Thanks also for helping sort out the early teething problems.</p> Mon, 13 Sep 1999 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/the-fairway-s-new-home/ Server Issues and Updates http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/server-issues-and-updates/ <p>Sorry about the archive not being enabled over the weekend. Server problems beyond my control I'm afraid. Anyway, to compensate, I'm going to keep download access enabled from now until the archive moves to its new home in two to three weeks. Thanks to all those who offered alternatives for the Fairway relocation! In the meantime, enjoy the new archive additions: The Lost Tribe and Revolution 76. I've also included a new thumbnail graphic to John Elway's Quarterback (thanks to Steve McCartt) as well as updated its documentation. I've also updated the docs for WindWalker.</p> Wed, 25 Aug 1999 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/server-issues-and-updates/ Archive Temporarily Disabled http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/archive-temporarily-disabled/ <p>Bad news I'm afraid. The archive has had to be temporarily disabled, with demand outweighing expectation, as downloads have exceeded a point where the connection for succeeding downloads must be paid extra for. Since I haven't paid for the connection thus far, the Fairway has been lucky up until this point. You can still view the web pages, but none of the links to archives are functioning.</p> <p>I will sort something as soon as I can, but don't hold your breath for anything soon. I do apologise.</p> Fri, 06 Aug 1999 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/archive-temporarily-disabled/ Minor Updates and...Crash Bandicoot?!? http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/minor-updates-and-crash-bandicoot/ <p>Added better thumbnail game boxes for Black Cauldron (thanks Paul Lunga), Man Hunter: New York (thanks Tyler Van Tighem), Roadwar 2000 and Battle Chess (thanks Willie Yeo). Finally got round to adding more of a plot description for Dungeon Master (thanks Nicholas Marx). Keep those best quality JPG, 300dpi, 1:1 scans of gameboxes coming in. I've updated the list below of what still remains to complete the archive.</p> <p>Sorry for the recent lack of updates, I've been bogged down with Uni again since semester started three weeks ago, and I've also been addicted to Crash Bandicoot Warped, played under emulation on my G3. I haven't had so much fun with a new game in ages :-) For those that don't know, Crash Bandicoot is the brainchild of Andy Gavin and Jason Rubin, former IIGS developers who created Dream Zone and Keef the Thief. Interestingly, I've found five secret levels, one of which is called Ski Crazed, which was their first ever game on the Apple II. They haven't forgotten their roots, and it's also evident at their site <a href="http://www.naughtydog.com/">www.naughtydog.com</a>.</p> <p>Anyone willing and able to write a SoundSmith/MegaTracker plug-in for SoundJam? :-)</p> Sat, 31 Jul 1999 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/minor-updates-and-crash-bandicoot/ Minor Updates http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/minor-updates-3/ <p>Added better thumbnail game box images for Dungeon Master, Neuromancer, Balance of Power, Questron 2 and Transylvania 3 thanks to Mary Sauer. Also added better thumbnails for Spirit of Excalibur and Gold of the Americas (from the Mac versions). Thanks goes to Willie Yeo for these, and I'd also just like to thank Willie for scans he has provided in the past. Finally, I've also added a better thumbnail for Serve and Volley, which was included with a mint condition ROM01 Apple IIGS - much thanks to Barbara Brook, for allowing me to clean out your cupboard!</p> Mon, 19 Jul 1999 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/minor-updates-3/ Minor Updates http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/minor-updates-4/ <p>Added ChessMaster 2100, Shanghai II, The Secrets of Bahras and the rare, unreleased game Project Neptune. Thanks to Ton for ChessMaster and Bahras and thanks goes to someone who now wishes to remain anonymous for Shanghai II and Project Neptune.</p> Sun, 11 Jul 1999 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/minor-updates-4/ Minor Updates http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/minor-updates-5/ <p>Added Mixed Up Mother Goose and Gold of the Americas. I've updated all links to external pages so that they won't appear in the right hand frame for the Fairway (I hate frames as much as everyone else. Really :-) Email me if the problem persists.</p> Thu, 24 Jun 1999 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/minor-updates-5/ Minor Updates http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/minor-updates-6/ <p>Added the difficult to find Spirit of Excalibur. I also added Future Shock 3D, which I believe is also an unreleased game. And for the hordes of IIGS emulating Bridge players, I've also included Artworx's Bridge 6.0. Much thanks goes to Dr Tom for Spirit of Excalibur, as well as a lot of other recent additions to the Fairway archive. Thanks also goes to Ton for Bridge 6.0. I've been recently receiving the same missing games from both Dr Tom and Ton only hours apart from each other. Thanks guys.</p> <p>The very excellent guys at F.E. Systems (formerly Bright Software) have made their intense side scrolling shoot-em-up Space Fox available FREE for registered users of Bernie ][ the Rescue.</p> Mon, 21 Jun 1999 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/minor-updates-6/ Minor Updates http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/minor-updates-7/ <p>Added Ancient Glory to the archive. Also added a good, totally working copy of Dream Zone on 2image! Much thanks goes to Ton for that. I've noticed different people have sent me copies of Roadwar 2000, or asked if I would like it and couldn't figure out why. To my embarassment, I've since checked if it was even listed in Role Playing Games, and it isn't! It's now fixed.</p> <p>I've had a couple of requests to make links to sites where you can purchase remaining stock of Apple IIGS games. So, I've included relevant links to Wayne's Computer Store and Applied Engineering from the Fairway's game pages which have specific games in stock. It would probably be best for prospective buyers to contact each retailer before buying to find out about the condition of the packaging and inclusion of documentation of the games you might want to buy.</p> Sat, 19 Jun 1999 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/minor-updates-7/ Minor Updates http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/minor-updates-8/ <p>I've updated the link for the Bernie <a href="http://www.bernie.gs/SupportCenter/compatibility/index.html">compatibility list</a> (thanks Henrik) and the links to Huibert Aalbars IIGS homepage from the pages Laser Force and Jigsaw, which are devoted to his games. I've also replaced the Transylvania III game box with the real one.</p> Sat, 12 Jun 1999 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/minor-updates-8/ Sarien URL http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/sarien-url/ <p>Oops. Forgot to include the URL for the <a href="http://scummvm.org/">Sarien AGI Interpreter</a>. I've also cleaned up some layout problems, which were effecting both Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer separately. I've also included a date last updated at the welcome page, so you'll all know when to read the news.</p> Fri, 11 Jun 1999 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/sarien-url/ Time for some News http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/time-for-some-news/ <p>It's time for some news. Thanks to everyone for the compliments since the page's public announcement during Easter. It's really made the site worthwhile. Just remember, I'm open to game, game box and game documentation submissions. Any IIGS commercial game you don't see here - I'll want!</p> <p>Recent additions to the archive include Out of this World, Beyond Zork, Pick n Pile, Vegas Craps, World Tour Golf and Magic Johnson's Basketball.</p> <p>The ShrinkIt version of the archive should be online in the near future. I'll keep you all informed.</p> <p>I've been informed about a universal Sierra AGI Adventure gaming platform interpreter. IIGS users should swell with pride - the project is wanting to use the files from the IIGS versions of Sierra's AGI Adventure games because of their advanced sound and music, which none of the other versions had. For those that don't know, AGI was the platform with which Sierra created King's Quest 1 to 3 (and 4 on the IIGS) Space Quest 1 &amp; 2, Leisure Suit Larry, Manhunter New York and San Francisco, Police Quest, Black Cauldron and Mixed Up Mother Goose. Because of this universal AGI interpreter project, the IIGS version of Manhunter San Francisco would be doubly appreciated, as it is currently not included in the archive.</p> Thu, 10 Jun 1999 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/time-for-some-news/ The Site Officially Opens! http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/the-site-officially-opens/ <p>The site opens! Please both enjoy and contribute to the Apple IIGS Gaming Memory Fairway to help make it one of the most comprehensive gaming archives available.</p> Thu, 11 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/the-site-officially-opens/ Welcome to version 3.0! http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/welcome-to-version-3/ <p>This has a been a long process, combining new graphic design, new archives and content, a content management system, a forum (which requires registration, which should reduce that damn spam!) a blog and probably heaps of other things I&rsquo;ve forgot to mention because there&rsquo;s so much that&rsquo;s new.&nbsp;</p> <p>I invite everyone to explore the site all over again, because you&rsquo;re bound to find, for example, many more educational software archives, soundtracks to many games, a hand picked selection of the best freeware and shareware apps and games, a new hardware section AND a new section devoted to IIGS books and magazines.</p> <p>There are many people to thank for the updated site. Firstly, thanks many times over to Rane Bowen. This guy is responsible for the content management system (<a href="http://www.silverstripe.com/" target="_blank" title="Silverstripe">Silverstripe</a>, for those interested), finding ways of importing all the data I had accumulated and creating the HTML and CSS templates, based on my Photoshop mock-ups, to visually tie it all together.</p> <p>Thanks also to Greg Wildman, who continues to support this site by hosting via his web server and also providing great support to ensure the site has the level of convenience it has now.</p> <p>Also, there are a few people who&rsquo;ve helped and prodded in the last couple of years since I decided to upgrade the site.</p> <p>Thanks to Mitch Spector, equally fanatical about IIGS games as myself, for your enthusiasm for the IIGS, the wonderful game soundtrack recordings and expansion card scans.</p> <p>Thanks also to the Aussie IRC crew, Andrew Roughan, David Wilson and E<span>wen Wannop</span> (a wolf in sheep&rsquo;s clothing!) for providing expansion card scans and keeping on the lookout for IIGS related packaging and book material and making scans when available. Robert Spitz has also been very helpful in this area as well. Henry Courbis at&nbsp;<a href="http://www.reactivemicro.com/" target="_blank" title="Reactive Micro">Reactive Micro</a>&nbsp;also submitted hardware scans, specifically for the TranswarpGS and Vulcan Gold controller card.</p> <p>Shaun Olson also deserves a pat on the back, for unwittingly testing the new upload system for the site, before I&rsquo;d even made it public! Google is just getting too good at listing sites &ndash; just how many of you saw version 3.0 of the site before I announced it!? Also Shaun submitted many book cover scans &ndash; brilliant!</p><p>One last point: If when you load a page and you come across an error message like this:</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>'Security', 'db/$Action' =&gt; 'DatabaseAdmin', '$Controller/$Action/$ID/$</p><p>OtherID' =&gt; '*', 'images/$Action/$Class/$ID/$Field' =&gt; 'Image_Uploader', '' =&gt; 'RootURLController', 'sitemap.xml' =&gt; 'GoogleSitemap', )); Director::addRules(1, array( '$URLSegment/$Action/$ID/$OtherID' =&gt; 'ModelAsController', )); // Load error handlers Debug::loadErrorHandlers(); // Connect to database require_once(&quot;core/model/DB.php&quot;); if(isset($_GET['debug_profile'])) Profiler::mark('DB::connect'); DB::connect($databaseConfig); if(isset($_GET['debug_profile'])) Profiler::unmark('DB::connect'); // Get the request URL $baseURL = dirname(dirname($_SERVER['SCRIPT_NAME'])); if(substr($url,0,strlen($baseURL)) == $baseURL) $url = substr($url,strlen($baseURL)); // Direct away - this is the &quot;main&quot; function, that hands control to the appropriate controller if(isset($_GET['debug_profile'])) Profiler::unmark('main.php init'); Director::direct($url); if(isset($_GET['debug_profile'])) { Profiler::unmark('all_execution'); Profiler::show(isset($_GET['profile_trace'])); } ?&gt;'</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>don't worry about reporting it. We know it exists and we're hoping to fix it soon! In the meantime, simply hit the reload button until the page loads normally.</p><p>Enjoy the site!</p> Sat, 02 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/welcome-to-version-3/ Sweet 16 v2.0 Beta 17 is Released! http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/sweet-16-v2-0-beta-17-is-released/ <p>Good news everybody!</p><p>After first demonstrating the emulator at Kansasfest in July&nbsp;Eric 'Sheppy' Shepherd has now&nbsp;publicly&nbsp;released the latest beta version of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.sheppyware.net/software-mac/sweet16/index.html" target="_blank" title="Sweet 16 v2.0">Sweet 16 v2.0</a>.</p><p>After playing with it for a couple of hours, it's a lot more stable than the previous beta running on my Dual 2.3Ghz G5. I've been throwing FTA demos at it and it's handled them with aplomb, except the Xmas Demo and its border effects. The volume sounds a little too loud, creating a little audible distortion, in a similar way to how Bernie would when you raise the volume slider built into its preferences. But it's a joy having all these demos run without a hiccup in small window as I perform lots of other tasks (such as writing this news entry).</p><p>This new version of Sweet 16 is major step forwards! Other features include joystick support (yes!) a new full screen mode and rudimentary TCP/IP support using Marinetti 3.0b1. Congrats to Sheppy!</p> Mon, 11 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/sweet-16-v2-0-beta-17-is-released/ Quick Updates http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/quick-updates/ <p>Just a couple of quick updates: the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/ram-gs/" title="RAM-GS">RAM-GS</a>&nbsp;card by Sequential Systems has been added to hardware and&nbsp;Mark Percival has kindly given permission to include all versions of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/micol-advanced-basic/" title="Micol Advanced BASIC">Micol Advanced BASIC</a>&nbsp;and its accompanying manual from his&nbsp;<a href="http://www.markpercival.net/MAB/" target="_blank" title="Mark Percival's Micol Advanced BASIC">own site</a>.</p> Mon, 18 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/quick-updates/ Updates to the Site http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/updates-to-the-site/ <p>The first batch of updates has arrived: Robert Spitz reminded me that I already had scans that he submitted for the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/cms-scsi-card/" target="_blank" title="CMS SCSI Card">CMS SCSI Card</a>, the original&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/apple-ii-scsi-card/" target="_blank" title="Apple II SCSI Card">Apple SCSI Card</a>&nbsp;and the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/apple-scsi-sandwich-ii/" target="_blank" title="Apple SCSI Sandwich II Card">Apple SCSI Sandwich II Card</a>. The RAM-GS scan is forthcoming Robert, trust me! :-)</p><p>Also,&nbsp;David Schmidt has sent in an image of his Applied Engineering&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/ram-keeper/" target="_blank" title="RAM Keeper">RAM Keeper</a>, with accompanying&nbsp;accoutrements.</p><p>We've been experiencing some teething problems since version 3.0 of the site launched last week, most notably randomly appearing error messages (we're still looking into that) and problems with download .zip files appearing to be corrupt. The problem seems only to happen to those of you using Internet Explorer 6 and 7 to download your IIGS goodies. A quick and easy solution would be to use Firefox 3 or even Safari for Windows instead. If you'd prefer to continue using Internet Explorer to visit this site, this Microsoft Help article might fix the problem:</p><p>http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308090</p><p>In short, try this:</p><p>For case 1:</p><p>Before you download, make sure that the Confirm open after download option is selected. To verify this:</p><p>1. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.</p><p>2. Double-click Folder Options.</p><p>3. Click the File Types tab.</p><p>4. Scroll down to and click the .zip extension.</p><p>5. Click Advanced.</p><p>6. Verify that Confirm open after download is selected.</p><p>For case 2:</p><p>1. Click the hyperlink, and then click Save or Save this file to disk in the File Download dialog box that appears.</p><p>2. In the Save As dialog box, specify a location to save the file to (for example, Desktop), and then click Save.</p><p>3. When the download is finished, open the .zip file, and then extract the files that are contained in it.</p> Mon, 11 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/updates-to-the-site/ Utility Updates and Orbizone Goodies http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/utility-updates-and-orbizone-goodies/ <p>Greetings Programs!</p><p>First of all, I need to note that Tony Costa should have been thanked at the time of relaunching the site. He provided innumerable scans of packaging such as the elusive&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/cryllan-mission-2088/" title="Cryllan Mission 2088">Cryllan Mission</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/secrets-of-bahras-the/" title="Secrets of Bahras">Secrets of Bahras</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/kaleidokubes/" title="Kaleidokubes">Kaleidokubes</a>&nbsp;as well as many more scans for apps, books and educational software that made version 3.0 more than just a face lift.&nbsp;</p><p>This weekly update includes, amongst other things, updates to the Apps/Utilities section including packaging scans of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/graphic-exchange-the/" title="The Graphic Exchange">The Graphic Exchange</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/foundation-v1-02/" title="Foundation">Foundation</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/six-pack/" title="Six Pack">Six Pack</a>&nbsp;all courtesy of Andrew Roughan. Additionally, a new archive has been created for&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/gs-font-editor/" title="GS Font Editor">GS Font Editor</a>&nbsp;when David Wilson submitted a scan of the box, I realised I hadn't included it on the site!</p><p>Another omission I made was to neglect including a disk image archive for&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/visualizer/" title="Visualizer">Visualizer</a>. I have since added a 2image for version 1.08.</p><p>For those with more of a trigger finger, you can now enjoy more scenery as you blast everything in sight. Wade Clarke has submitted his own level graphics for the classic Pangea Asteroids clone&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/orbizone/" title="Orbizone">Orbizone</a>. I'm delighted to report I have egg on my face when I replied to Wade by saying that not many people took advantage of being able to include your own graphics and levels to Pangea's games, because coincidentally, I have found many more graphics and levels for&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/orbizone/" title="Orbizone">Orbizone</a>&nbsp;rummaging through&nbsp;<a href="http://mirrors.apple2.org.za" target="_blank" title="Apple II Archive Mirrors">mirrors.apple2.org.za</a>.</p><p>Also, I have included a little detail to some of the most elusive of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/unreleased-games/" title="Unreleased Games">unreleased</a>&nbsp;games for the IIGS, with what little knowledge we have about those games.</p><p>Last but not least, I've correctly changed the release status of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/balance-of-power-1990/" title="Balance of Power">Balance of Power</a>&nbsp;to 'Reclassified Freeware' as the designer, Chris Crawford, has made every version available for free.</p> Sun, 07 Sep 2008 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/utility-updates-and-orbizone-goodies/ Happy Birthday Apple IIGS! http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/happy-birthday-apple-iigs/ <span class="Apple-style-span"><div><p>On this day in 1986, the Apple IIGS was first released. But good luck trying to get one: supply of the machines dribbled slowly into the market and most of the Apple faithful had to wait months to procure a IIGS for their very own.</p><p>22 hardly being a milestone year, there are only very modest updates to include: Thanks to Andrew Roughan and David Wilson, who both provided scans, the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/programmer-s-reference-for-system-6/" title="Programmer's Reference for System 6.0">Programmer's Reference for System 6.0</a>&nbsp;has been added to the Publications/Books section. And more rummaging through mirrors.apple2.org.za revealed that&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/gsnumerics/" title="GSNumerics">GSNumerics</a>&nbsp;has been reclassified as freeware, so I have made it so on the site.</p><p>Also, if any of you tried the RSS feeds for both News and the Blog and had trouble, well, the RSS feeds are now working properly.&nbsp;</p></div></span> Mon, 15 Sep 2008 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/happy-birthday-apple-iigs/ New Game surfaces: Subversion http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/new-game-surfaces-subversion-2/ <span class="Apple-style-span"><div><p>George Rentovich has let me know a couple of times via email that 'What is the Apple IIGS?' has always been missing the game 'Subversion', a title I had never heard of. However George has been unable to find his bought copy of the game, but my own personal scouring of the Apple II mirrors has actually revealed a working, cracked version of Subversion! The game itself is a turned based submarine strategy game wrapped in a very System 6 friendly application and written by former IIGS stalwart Jason Harper. To dish out death from below from the comfort of your mouse, go to the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/subversion/" title="Subversion">Subversion</a>&nbsp;archive.</p></div></span> Wed, 15 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/new-game-surfaces-subversion-2/ Brian Greenstone Interview http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/brian-greenstone-interview/ <p>John from the&nbsp;<a href="http://retromaccast.ning.com/" target="_blank" title="Retro Mac Cast">Retro Mac Cast</a>&nbsp;let me know of their interview with Brian Greenstone (who basically is Pangea Software) in their<a href="http://retromaccast.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=393541" target="_blank" title="Interview with Brian Greenstone"> 91st episode</a>&nbsp;to talk about the games he's done over the last 21 years, including&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/xenocide/" title="Xenocide">Xenocide</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/senseless-violence-1-and-2/" title="Senseless Violence">Senseless Violence</a>&nbsp;(Brian needs to know that many more people appreciate his IIGS efforts than he realises!). Additionally, John has also provided a PDF version of the Xenocide manual, so that's included now with the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/xenocide/" title="Xenocide">Xenocide</a>&nbsp;archive.&nbsp;</p> Sun, 19 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/brian-greenstone-interview/ Everything Old (well, a couple of things) is New Again http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/everything-old-well-a-couple-of-things-is-new-again/ <p>Two Apple IIGS classics have recently been re-released for the 21<sup>st</sup> century.</p> <p><a href="http://www.mackiev.com/hyperstudio/index.html" target="_blank" title="Hyperstudio 5 for Mac OS X">Hyper Studio 5</a>&nbsp;has been released for Mac OS X, jointly developed by Roger Wagner and&nbsp;<a href="http://www.mackiev.com/index.html" target="_blank" title="Software Mac Kiev">Software Mac Kiev</a>. The hypermedia authoring application is still a favourite with schools and they've been crying out for a Mac OS X version of the program for years. The update also includes a player for playing legacy Hyperstudio stacks, but that only includes stacks made with Mac Hyperstudio version 3.0 onwards. Software Mac Kiev also maintains other classics that were available for the IIGS -&nbsp;<a href="http://www.mackiev.com/print_shop.html" target="_blank" title="The Print Shop for Mac OS X">the Print Shop</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="http://www.mackiev.com/mavis/index.html" target="_blank" title="Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing for Mac OS X">Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing</a>&nbsp;for Mac OS X.</p><p>First reported by&nbsp;<a href="http://toucharcade.com/2008/11/11/retro-action-game-crystal-quest-comes-to-the-iphone/" target="_blank" title="Crystal Quest for the iPhone on Touch Arcade">Touch Arcade</a>, for gamers out for a bit of nostalgia on the go, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/crystal-quest/" title="Crystal Quest for the Apple IIGS">Crystal Quest</a>, that venerable shoot-em-up released for the IIGS back in 1989 is now available for the <a href="http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=295649619&amp;mt=8" target="_blank" title="Buy Crystal Quest for the iPhone">iPhone</a>. The wonderfully idiosyncratic sound effects have been retained along with original gameplay in the &lsquo;Classic' mode of the game. But there is also a new &lsquo;Modern' mode with equally zany sound effects and updated graphics.</p> Sat, 15 Nov 2008 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/everything-old-well-a-couple-of-things-is-new-again/ InCider, II Alive and A+ Cover Collection Complete! http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/incider-ii-alive-and-a-cover-collection-complete/ <p>I'm very happy to announce that all three collections of InCider, II Alive and A+ are now complete in relation to their cover scans.</p><p>Thanks to Wayne Bibbens at <a href="http://www.waynes.com/" target="_blank" title="Wayne's Computer Store">Wayne's Computer Store</a>, I managed to procure these last remaining issues to plug the holes in my almost complete collection, but only after overcoming email problems, researching best postage methods and working around the sliding value of the Australian dollar to the greenback. Thanks for bearing with me Wayne!</p><p>The volumes in question are:</p><p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/incider-magazine-dec-1986/" title="InCider Dec 1986">InCider Magazine - December 1986</a><br /><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/a-magazine-jan-1987/" title="A+ Jan 1987">A+ Magazine - January 1987</a><br /><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/ii-alive-volume-1-number-1-mar-apr-199/" title="II Alive Volume 1, Number 1 March April 1993">II Alive Volume 1, Number 1 March April 1993</a></p><p>I also bought the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/incider-a-magazine-apr-1993/" title="April 1993 issue of InCider/A+">April 1993 issue of InCider/A+</a>, which reduces the number of cover scans for that collection to 2 only!</p><p>Also, to complete the InCider collection, I added the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/incider-magazine-jan-1989/" title="January 1989 InCider">January 1989 issue</a>, which has been in my collection for some time, but posed a bit of a problem in regards to retouching: let's just say it wasn't in mint condition! It's come up pretty nice after applying my Photoshop <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/set-scanners-to-stun-restoring-printed-material-for-the-apple-ii/" title="Set Scanners to Stun!">retouching techniques</a>, don't you think?</p><p>Now, this is the part where I ask you to beg, borrow or steal copies of the remaining <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/incidera-magazine/" title="InCider/A+ Magazines">InCider/A+</a> (Issues March and May 1993), <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/buyers-guide/" title="Apple IIGS Buyer's Guide Magazines">Apple IIGS Buyer's Guide</a> (Fall and Winter 1987; Spring, Summer and Winter 1988) and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/gs-magazine/" title="GS+ Magazines">GS+</a> (Issues Volume 1, Issue 1 to Issue 6; Volume 2 Issues 1 and 2) magazines. If you don't have the necessary hardware to <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/you-can-help/" title="You Can Help!">scan</a> in these magazines beg, borrow or steal that too!<br /> </p> Sat, 15 Nov 2008 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/incider-ii-alive-and-a-cover-collection-complete/ Subversion and Hoverblade Scans http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/subversion-and-hoverblade-scans/ <p>Delving deep into the boxes of my Apple IIGS collection in my parents' attic, I found my original&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/hover-blade/" title="Hover Blade">Hover Blade</a>&nbsp;manual and have scanned its cover as a 1-bit TIF, as this is the only image used for its packaging (it originally shipped with a photocopied manual and two disks). I wasn't able to find my old, trusty&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/hyperstudio-3-1/" title="Hyperstudio">Hyperstudio</a>&nbsp;digitising card as I was hoping, but perhaps someone else might be able to help out there? ;-)</p><p>George Rentovich has found his original copy of Subversion and submitted a scan for its box, which I have included with the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/subversion/" title="Subversion">Subversion</a>&nbsp;archive.</p><p>Also, don't miss my review of the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/cffa-card-review/" title="CFFA Card Review">CFFA card</a>. I've included a tonne of goodies to go with it - specifically, 32meg 2images which include every hard drive installable game and educational programs as well as most applications which you can quickly transfer to your compact flash cards for use with your real IIGS hardware, for those that require strict&nbsp;verisimilitude to their nostalgic sessions that emulators can't provide.</p> Fri, 05 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/subversion-and-hoverblade-scans/ eBay Action...in Australia? http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/ebay-action-in-australia/ <p><span class="Apple-style-span"><div><p>Newsworthy for this site at least, eBay Australia was a flurry of activity this past week. An&nbsp;<a href="http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&amp;ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&amp;item=180308939551" target="_blank" title="Apple IIGS for auction 1"><span class="Apple-style-span">Apple IIGS</span></a>&nbsp;with 1.25meg of RAM, an Apple High Speed SCSI card, SCSI hard drive and two 3.5&quot; floppy drives sold for $901.00 (Aus) to the highest bidder. This is a high price indeed and just goes to show how these vintage Apples are actually going up in value.</p><p>Then another&nbsp;<a href="http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&amp;ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&amp;item=330289728698" target="_blank" title="Second IIGS for auction"><span class="Apple-style-span">Apple IIGS</span></a>&nbsp;appeared a couple of days later, also from a seller living in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne. This particular IIGS included little other than its total RAM of 512k and two 3.5&quot; floppy drives, but it was a Woz model which was cosmetically in good shape. Better still, it included all the original packaging that was also in good shape.</p><p>What the hell, I'll take a plunge, take advantage of being able to pick up without paying postage and bid with what I successfully bid on a IIGS loaded with a ZipGSX, 4 meg of RAM and a Vulcan hard drive back in 2003.</p><p>Proving again that the value of the IIGS is actually on the increase, I was outdone for my bid of $256. But only by $5!</p><p>Congratulations to the recipients of these IIGS. I hope you'll be able to make full use of this site to fully explore the potential of this unique vintage Apple machine.</p></div></span></p> Fri, 05 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/ebay-action-in-australia/ 32 Meg ProDOS Partition Updates http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/32-meg-prodos-partition-updates/ <p>&nbsp;</p> <div> <p>Hi all!&nbsp;I've done a little housekeeping with the&nbsp;<a title="CFFA Card Review" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/cffa-card-review/">32 meg ProDOS partitions</a>:</p> <p>I added a few useful conversion utilities to SoundSmith, as well as its full documentation. I also added the wonderful Audio Zap v2.0 for all your audio editing needs. Both updates can be found on the Audio and Utilities 2image.</p> <p>I've also been marking folders red for the programs that are refusing to run from System 6.0.1. Keep that feedback coming in and I will continue to maintain a clearer picture of which programs are working from the hard drive.</p> <p>I have removed all ampersand characters from the 2image filenames and have re-zipped each partition using Stuffit with maximum compression setting used in the hope this may correct some of the issues some people were experiencing. I still recommend you use Firefox or Safari to download any of the 2images on this site.</p> <p>If you're still having problems using the 32 meg partitions with emulators or getting them onto a compact flash card via CiderPress, please add your experiences to the comments on the CFFA Review. I know that converting those 2images to Raw format has enabled their correct use with KEGS v0.91.&nbsp;</p> <p>Additionally, I've collated a list of all the games that currently can't be run from a hard drive:</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Aaargh!</p> <p>King of Chicago</p> <p>Impossible Mission II</p> <p>Rocket Ranger&nbsp;</p> <p>Dream Zone</p> <p>Destroyer</p> <p>Grand Prix Circuit</p> <p>Hostage</p> <p>Hunt for Red October</p> <p>Pirates!</p> <p>Silent Service</p> <p>Test Drive II</p> <p>Tomahawk</p> <p>Blackjack Academy</p> <p>Bridge</p> <p>4th and Inches</p> <p>GBA Basketball</p> <p>Hardball</p> <p>Serve and Volley</p> <p>Skate or Die</p> <p>Street Sports Soccer</p> <p>Superstar Ice Hockey</p> <p>Winter Games</p> <p>World Games</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>If you can remember having a hard drive installable version for any of these games (and there are detailed cracks listed here and there, but my sector editing skills are not up to the task) look it up and submit it so it can be included on these 32 meg volumes.&nbsp;</p> </div> <p>&nbsp;</p> Fri, 12 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/32-meg-prodos-partition-updates/ Making KEGS-OSX Easier to Use...by a Comic Book Hero? http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/making-kegs-osx-easier-to-use-by-a-comic-book-hero/ <p>Paul Laroquad recently got in touch and let me know about version 0.4 of his&nbsp;<a href="http://laroquodexperiment.com/in/technology-101-20080826073615/" target="_blank" title="KEGS Slot Droppers v0.4">KEGS Slot Droppers</a>&nbsp;for Mac OS X. 'Tha what?!' you're probably thinking. Well, the&nbsp;<a href="http://laroquodexperiment.com/in/technology-101-20080826073615/" target="_blank" title="KEGS Slot Droppers v0.4">KEGS Slot Droppers</a>&nbsp;make it easy as dragging and dropping a disk image onto each dropper and then KEGS will start up automatically to boot from whatever has been dropped. This is especially useful for the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.casags.net" target="_blank" title="KEGS-OSX Build">KEGS-OSX</a>&nbsp;build, as despite that it's more optimised, it still requires you to manually key the location of the disk images(s) you want KEGS to see.</p><p>Paul's also created an amazingly illustrated&nbsp;<a href="http://laroquodexperiment.com/in/cinema-hypothesis-0.1/" target="_blank" title="Laroquad Experiment's Hypothesis">comic</a>, with himself as the 'hero', that's easily appreciated by Apple II fans. Bizarre, but another wonderful example of the Apple II entering into the contemporary art space&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/amay-answers-an-apple-ii-creative-mayday/" title="AMay film clip">again</a>.</p> Sat, 13 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/making-kegs-osx-easier-to-use-by-a-comic-book-hero/ Christmas Bonanza! http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/christmas-bonanza/ <p>Happy Holidays everyone!</p> <p>I've assembled a fairly big update to the hardware section. Thanks to&nbsp;<a href="http://homepage.mac.com/speccie/" target="_blank" title="Ewen Wannop's homepage">Ewen Wannop</a>, the archive now holds a scan of the<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/datalink-1200-or-2400/" title="Ewen Wannop's homepage"> Applied Engineering DataLink 2400</a>&nbsp;internal modem. Thanks also to Henry Courbis of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.reactivemicro.com/" target="_blank" title="Reactive Micro">Reactive Micro</a>&nbsp;for scans of the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/microdrive-ide/" title="MicroDrive IDE">MicroDrive IDE</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/microdrive-ide-turbo/" title="MicroDrive IDE Turbo">MicroDrive IDE Turbo</a>&nbsp;and the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/gs-ram-ultra/" title="GS-RAM Ultra">GS-RAM Ultra</a>. Last but not least, many thanks to Collin Douglas for contributing a scan of the uber rare&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/futurepad/" title="FuturePad">Future Pad</a>&nbsp;board, for use with the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/futureshock-3d/" title="Futureshock 3D">Futureshock 3D</a>&nbsp;game. Never thought I'd live to see the day for that one! As told to Collin by its developer Jeff E Johnson, &lsquo;it uses variable capacitance to sense how high you hold your hand over the pad.' It plugged into the joystick port on the IIGS.</p> <p>Additionally, I've included downloadable manuals for Applied Engineering's&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/vulcan/" title="Vulcan">Vulcan</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/sonic-blaster/" title="Sound Blaster">Sonic Blaster</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/gs-ram-iii/" title="GS-RAM III">GS-RAM III</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/pc-transporter/" title="PC Transporter">PC Transporter</a>&nbsp;and the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/ram-keeper/" title="RAM Keeper">RAM Keeper</a>&nbsp;along with manuals for the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/fingerprint-gsi/" title="FingerPrint GSi">FingerPrint GSi</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/sirius-ram/" title="Sirius RAM">Sirius RAM</a>, and the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/zipgsx/" title="ZipGSX">ZipGSX</a>&nbsp;accelerator. These wonderful manuals were created by Wayne Stewart, who has made the best with what the PDF format can offer: all the text is searchable and even the chapters on the contents pages are linked to their relevant pages in each manual. To boot, the PDFs actually contain text instead of bitmap scans of each page, resulting in very small file sizes. If anyone can let me know how to reach Wayne and thank him for his efforts, please&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/submit-news/" title="Submit News">let me know</a>.</p><p>The icing on the cake for my Christmas, Brian Wiser has scanned his available issues of the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/buyers-guide/" title="Apple IIGS Buyer's Guide">Apple IIGS Buyer's Guide</a>, filling out most of the gaps in the archive's collection.</p><p>And as Michael Stephens has reminded us on&nbsp;<a href="http://groups.google.com/group/comp.sys.apple2" target="_blank" title="comp.sys.apple2">comp.sys.apple2</a>, you can spread some Christmas cheer on your IIGS with his&nbsp;<a href="http://www.cirruscomms.com.au/~mike_stephens/apple2/Pascal_Programming/ChristmasDemo/index.html" target="_blank" title="Christmas Demo">Christmas Demo</a>; ready to go in both 2image and ShrinkIt archive!</p><p>I'll be travelling to England, France and Italy throughout January, but I hope to check my emails as often as I can, but expect longer response times.</p><p>Merry Christmas everyone!</p> Fri, 19 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/christmas-bonanza/ Big Content Additions! http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/big-content-additions/ <p>I'm VERY happy with the many contributions that arrived during my holiday! It seems I was after most of these since I started the archive 10 years ago - much thanks to all concerned.</p><p>First of all, George Rentovich has sent along his combined archives by CD so I could poke around and see what this archive didn't have. George's stuff included most of the educational archives I had been after for a long time and they are now available for all as 2image archives:</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/cartooners/" title="Cartooners">Cartooners Space Art</a>&nbsp;(now included with the existing Cartooners archive. Some really great and amusing new animations and characters, scenes, sound effects for your own productions)</p><p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/color-n-canvas/" title="Color 'n' Canvas">Color n Canvas</a>&nbsp;(a paint program for kids. Does anyone know if this came with a data disk with sample images?)</p><p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/electric-crayon/" title="Electric Crayon">Electric Crayon</a>&nbsp;(OK, so technically not a IIGS program, although this unofficial bundle of three Electric Crayon releases requires a IIGS to run)</p><p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/land-of-the-unicorn/" title="Land of the Unicorn">Land of the Unicorn</a>&nbsp;(a very challenging game for all ages testing your word vocabulary. I think I expanded my own just play testing it!)</p><p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/learning-spoken-english/" title="Learning Spoken English">Learning Spoken English</a>&nbsp;(an unusual, possibly unreleased piece of software, that looks developed as part of a course to learn English. At its heart is the speech and graphics technology that powers all the First Byte educational programs.</p><p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/milliken-story-teller/" title="Milliken Story Teller">Milliken Story Teller</a>&nbsp;(although it's been part of the archive a while now, there are now three new stories for kids to enjoy: Aladdin &amp; the Magic Lamp, Jack &amp; the Bean Stalk, Peter Rabbit)&nbsp;</p><p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/once-upon-a-time-iii/" title="Once Upon a Time III">Once Upon a Time III</a>&nbsp;(Annoyingly buggy story creator for kids and forces you only to ever use two disks at a time and unfortunately, can't be installed to hard drives)</p><p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/snoopy-s-reading-machine/" title="Snoopy's Reading Machine">Snoopy's Reading Machine</a>&nbsp;(although the graphics have obviously been converted from a C64, Schultz's characters are nicely represented and should provide fun for kids and adults alike.)</p><p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/stars-and-planets/" title="Stars &amp; Planets">Stars &amp; Planets</a>&nbsp;(an educational program that's hard to define for which genre it belongs to, it includes learning about the planets, but also how to improve memory and counting).</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>From George's archive, there are also several new application archives as well:</p><p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/deskpak/" title="DeskPak">DeskPak</a>&nbsp;(there are some terrific desk accessories here, that give the IIGS most of the functionality of Classic Mac OS desk accessories)</p><p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/show-off-/" title="Show Off">Show Off World Events</a>&nbsp;(more artwork to include with Show Off presentations)</p><p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/color-plus/" title="Color Plus">Color+</a>&nbsp;(yet another paint program, but bizarrely written in Bashir Kassir's Spectra Grafix 256 BASIC environment)</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>I'm also grateful for the combined effort of Jim Casselbury for scanning the boxes of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/cavern-cobra/" title="Cavern Cobra">Cavern Cobra</a>&nbsp;(I never thought I'd ever see it!) and&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/strategic-conquest/" title="Strategic Conquest">Strategic Conquest</a>&nbsp;(which I've added to the archive, even though technically, it's not a native IIGS game. But the box says 'Apple IIGS Version') which were sold to Jim and lovingly stored away by its previous owner, Don. Also thanks to the sharp eyes of Andrew Roughan for pointing out Cavern Cobra and Strategic Conquest were seen on eBay!</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Andy Molloy has sent in a scan for the Finder alternative/program launcher&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/wings/" title="Wings">Wings</a>&nbsp;and to cap it off&nbsp;Collin Douglas has provided a scan of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/star-saga-one/" title="Star Saga One">Star Saga One</a>, surely one of the rarest IIGS games ever.</p><p>Also, thanks to the eternal&nbsp;vigilance&nbsp;of Willie Yeo,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/flash-boot/" title="Flash Boot">Flash Boot</a>&nbsp;has been added to the archive, which was previously missing.</p><p>Dave Touvell of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.apple2info.net" target="_blank" title="apple2info.net">www.apple2info.net</a>&nbsp;has given his blessing to including manuals he's scanned for his own site to appear here, including documentation for the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/apple-high-speed-scsi-card/" title="Apple HS SCSI Card">Apple HS SCSI Card</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/gs-juice-plus/" title="GS Juice Plus">GS Juice Plus</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/ramfast-rev-c-scsi/" title="RAMFast C">RAMFast C</a>&nbsp;&amp;&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/ramfast-rev-d-scsi/" title="RAMFast D">D</a>&nbsp;manuals. I've also added another of Wayne Stewart's brilliant PDF manuals, this time for&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/prosel-8-9/" title="Prosel">Prosel</a>.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>In other news, if you think 'What is the Apple IIGS?' for a comprehensive repository of commercial IIGS software and information then think the same for '<a href="http://digisoft.callapple.org/" target="_blank" title="Digisoft and the Golden Grail">Golden Grail</a>' in regards to shareware and free software for the IIGS. Jim Maricondo and Bill Martens have completed their arduous work in compiling the Golden Orchid CD-ROM collection into 32meg 2images, just right for emulation. The archives are very nicely organised and contain original documentation where available as well as the latest versions of many useful and interesting freely distributable software, not to mention an extensive sound, graphics and music library.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Last but not least, a public service announcement: if you were wondering where the News had disappeared to, it actually hadn't. When the clock ticked over into 2009, that meant all 2008 news is only accessible via the '2008 News Archive' button in the right hand column of the News page.</p> Sat, 21 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/big-content-additions/ IIGS Programming Alumni News http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/iigs-programming-alumni-news/ <span class="Apple-style-span"><div><p>I was delighted that Dr Ken Franklin, author of the brilliant&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/one-arm-battle/" title="One Arm Battle">One Armed Battle</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/plunder/" title="Plunder!">Plunder!</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/milestones-2000/" title="Milestones 2000">Milestones 2000</a>&nbsp;added to the comments to the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/the-book-of-the-website/" title="The Book of the Website">blog entry</a>&nbsp;regarding the upcoming coffee table book.&nbsp;Ken sent me the latest versions of his games (v1.51) which used better compression for the sound effects, also adding a couple of little options here and there. The 2image archives for the three games have been updated online, as has the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/harddrive_image.zip" title="System 6 Hard Drive Image">hard drive image</a>&nbsp;containing all the shareware games along with a complete install of System 6.0.1.</p><p>I had to ask Ken: was there another equally addictive game he was working on back in the early 90s? The answer is yes, but it didn't get past the preliminary stage. The game was to be called 'Monster Mash' and be a cross between&nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cootie_(game)" target="_blank" title="Cootie Game">Cootie</a>&nbsp;and Memory Match. It sounds just as fun as the other games, but unfortunately we'll never know.</p><p>But not all is lost. Ken's hoping to develop iPhone/iPod Touch versions of his classic IIGS games in the next year or so. I can't think of a better platform for modern takes on these games!</p><p>Speaking of former IIGS developers and the iPhone, some big news in the past week is that Brian Greenstone, head of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/Pangea%20Software" target="_blank" title="http://www.pangeasoft.net/index.html">Pangea Software</a>&nbsp;and mastermind behind IIGS games&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/xenocide/" title="Xenocide">Xenocide</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/senseless-violence-1-and-2/" title="Senseless Violence">Senseless Violence</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/cosmocade/" title="Cosmocade">Cosmocade</a>&nbsp;and his&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/pangea-s-24-hour-games/" title="Pangea's 24 hour shareware games">24 hour shareware games</a>, has announced that after working almost exclusively on the Mac for nearly the last 15 years, he's decided to put all his efforts into future projects for release on the iPhone only.</p><p><a href="http://insidemacgames.com/news/story.php?ArticleID=17580" target="_blank" title="Inside Mac Games Take on Pangea developing only for iPhone">Inside Mac Game's Article</a>&nbsp;</p><p><a href="http://www.tuaw.com/2009/03/15/tuaw-sxsw-interview-pangea-software-ceo-brian-greenstone/" target="_blank" title="TUAW's interview with Brian Greenstone">The Unofficial Apple Blog Article</a>&nbsp;</p><p>It's been interesting to see the response to this move. At worst, some feel betrayed that they have supported Pangea all these years in the hope continued support would always ensure new Mac games. It's not unlike the feelings that arose when developers started abandoning ship for the Apple II by the late 80s and early 90s. But I can't blame Brian for his decision; to develop games exclusively for the Mac is certainly an exercise in swimming up stream and when most of the hard work put into Pangea's games was translatable to iPhone games, which then netted Brian more rewards in the space of 9 months than the previous 14 years...you'd have to be a fool not to move on and continue to use the successful model of Apple's App Store to distribute your programs. Good luck to him!</p><p>Last but certainly not least, the&nbsp;<a href="http://a2unplugged.com/wordpress/" target="_blank" title="A2 Unplugged">A2Unplugged</a>&nbsp;podcast featured an interview with Burger Becky Heineman, programmer behind countless IIGS classics such as&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/tass-times-in-tonetown/" title="Tass Times in Tonetown">Tass Times in Tonetown</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/bard-s-tale-i-tales-of-the-unknown-the/" title="Bard's Tale I">Bard's Tale I</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/bard-s-tale-ii-the-destiny-knight-the/" title="Bard's Tale II">II</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/crystal-quest/" title="Crystal Quest">Crystal Quest</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/dragon-wars/" title="Dragon Wars">Dragon Wars</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/out-of-this-world/" title="Out of this World">Out of this World</a>, back in their December broadcast. &nbsp;</p></div></span> Sat, 21 Mar 2009 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/iigs-programming-alumni-news/ IIGS Tune Treasure! http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/iigs-tune-treasure/ <p>Jim Maricondo has done the Apple II community a wonderful service. Apart from being the brains behind the wonderful&nbsp;<a title="Twilight II" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/twilight-ii-v1-1/">Twilight II</a>&nbsp;screen saver and together with Bill Martens, the&nbsp;<a title="Golden Grail Archive" href="http://digisoft.callapple.org/the_golden_grail/" target="_blank">Golden Grail</a>&nbsp;archive, he's also recorded a lot of high quality IIGS music from games, demos, SoundSmith and Noisetracker. Five hours worth in fact! And the music now resides with each relevant archive on this site, the link to which you can find under the 2image download link.</p> <p>Firstly, there's the haunting opening music to&nbsp;<a title="Alien Mind" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/alien-mind/">Alien Mind</a>. Perfect as a ringtone? Or perhaps you prefer Miami Software's remix on the&nbsp;<a title="Space Cluster" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/space-cluster/">Space Cluster</a>&nbsp;title screen? Then there's also the unique title music to&nbsp;<a title="Neuromancer" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/neuromancer/">Neuromancer</a>, written by none other than geek gods Devo! The perfect music to drive into the sunset to, the theme from&nbsp;<a title="Test Drive II" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/test-drive-ii/">Test Drive II</a>, is also part of the collection. Or how about the thumping first two tracks of&nbsp;<a title="Space Fox" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/space-fox/">Space Fox</a>? The theme from&nbsp;<a title="Skate or Die" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/skate-or-die/">Skate or Die</a>? The first three levels' music of&nbsp;<a title="Marble Madness" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/marble-madness/">Marble Madness</a>? The title music of&nbsp;<a title="Columns GS" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/columns/">Columns GS</a>&nbsp;by James Brookes? Two tracks from&nbsp;<a title="Sensei" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/sensei/">Sensei</a>? And to finish off the games, there's the music from the first level of&nbsp;<a title="GATE" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/gate/">GATE</a>&nbsp;and its very different sounding&nbsp;<a title="GATE Demo" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/gate-demo/">GATE playable demo</a>.</p> <p>Did you spend far too many hours marvelling at the compositions created with&nbsp;<a title="SoundSmith" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/soundsmith-v1-01/">SoundSmith</a>? Well now you can relive those days without a IIGS being on hand! I've also created an archive for&nbsp;<a title="NoiseTracker" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/noisetracker/">NoiseTracker</a>, because there's a few recorded tracks for that as well! There's also five&nbsp;<a title="Diversi-Tune" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/diversi-tune-v1-1/">Diversi-Tune</a>&nbsp;tracks that you can now sing along to the MP3s of. And last but not least, I had originally forgotten to include Mitch Spector's recordings of three&nbsp;<a title="Music Construction Set" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/music-contruction-set/">Music Construction Set</a>&nbsp;tracks.</p> <p>Speaking of which, Mitch's recordings have been on the site since the re-launch and if you missed them, here they are:</p> <p>The themes from&nbsp;<a title="King's Quest" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/king-s-quest/">King's Quest&nbsp;I</a>,&nbsp;<a title="King's Quest II" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/king-s-quest-ii/">II</a>,&nbsp;<a title="King's Quest III" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/king-s-quest-iii/">III</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a title="King's Quest IV" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/king-s-quest-iv/">IV</a>&nbsp;as well as&nbsp;<a title="Leisure Suit Larry" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/leisure-suit-larry-in-the-land-of-the-lounge-lizards/">Leisure Suit Larry</a>,&nbsp;<a title="Police Quest" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/police-quest/">Police Quest</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a title="Space Quest I" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/space-quest-i/">Space Quest I</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a title="Space Quest II" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/space-quest-ii/">II</a>,&nbsp;<a title="Tass Times in Tonetown" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/tass-times-in-tonetown/">Tass Times in Tonetown</a>,&nbsp;<a title="Paperboy" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/paperboy/">Paperboy</a>,&nbsp;<a title="Roadwar 2000" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/roadwar-2000/">Roadwar 2000</a>,&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a title="Tomahawk" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/tomahawk/">Tomahawk</a>.</p> <p>Samples tracks from&nbsp;<a title="Thexder" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/thexder/">Thexder</a>,&nbsp;<a title="Winter Games" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/winter-games/">Winter Games</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a title="World Games" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/world-games/">World Games</a>.</p> <p>Full sound tracks to&nbsp;<a title="Defender of the Crown" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/defender-of-the-crown/">Defender of the Crown</a>,&nbsp;<a title="The Immortal" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/immortal-the/">The Immortal</a>,&nbsp;<a title="King of Chicago" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/king-of-chicago/">King of Chicago</a>,&nbsp;<a title="Rocket Ranger" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/rocket-ranger/">Rocket Ranger</a>,&nbsp;<a title="Sinbad" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/sinbad-and-the-throne-of-the-falcon/">Sinbad</a>,&nbsp;<a title="The Three Stooges" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/three-stooges-the/">The Three Stooges</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a title="Zany Golf" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/zany-golf/">Zany Golf</a>.</p> <p>Even I've had a crack at recording music, and have the complete soundtrack to the&nbsp;<a title="Bard's Tale II" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/bard-s-tale-ii-the-destiny-knight-the/">Bard's Tale II</a>, including all the songs from the original Bard's Tale as played by the Bard in the sequel.</p> <p>If you're keen to record your favourite IIGS music and want to add to the collection here, equip your IIGS with a stereo card and see how&nbsp;<a title="How to submit music recordings" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/you-can-help/#music_recordings">you can help</a>.</p> Sun, 22 Mar 2009 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/iigs-tune-treasure/ New Content Additions http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/new-content-additions/ <p>I'm very pleased to say that, thanks to Brian Wiser, the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/incidera-magazine/" title="InCider / A+ Magazines">InCider/A+</a>&nbsp;magazine cover collection is now complete with the additions of the March, May and July 1993 issues.</p><p>Also, in the same vein as publications, Marco Tronci has submitted scans for the books&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/exploring-gs-os-and-prodos-8/" title="Exploring GS/OS and ProDOS 8">Exploring GS/OS and ProDOS 8</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/exploring-the-apple-iigs/" title="Exploring the Apple IIGS">Exploring the Apple IIGS</a>, both by Garry Little, and&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/using-appleworks-gs-addison-wesley/" title="Using Appleworks GS (Addison-Wesley)">Using Appleworks GS</a>, by Douglas L. Brown. Not to be confused with&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/using-appleworks-gs-que-pub/" title="Using Appleworks GS (Que Pub)">Using Appleworks GS</a>&nbsp;by Katherine Murray for Que Pub publishing, for which the archive still requires a scan.</p><p>Also, thanks to Bill Martens and the WTB Collection for the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/twilight-ii-v1-1/" title="Twilight II">Twilight II</a>&nbsp;manual scan.</p><p>Lastly, thanks to some purchases of my own, the archive now includes both a working disk image and cover scan to&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/geographic-jigsaw/" title="Geographic Jigsaw">Geographic Jigsaw</a>&nbsp;by Micro Eclat and also&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/symbolix/" title="Symbolix ">Symbolix</a>&nbsp;(also known as GSymbolix and Eureka Symbolix) by Henrik Gudat of Bright Software.</p> Sat, 04 Apr 2009 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/new-content-additions/ Splat! Found and Adventure Alive M.I.A. http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/splat-found-and-adventure-alive-m-i-a/ <p>Following a request from Michael Stephens for the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/splat/" title="Splat!">Splat</a>!&nbsp;source level debugger on&nbsp;<a href="http://groups.google.com.au/group/comp.sys.apple2" target="_blank" title="comp.sys.apple2 on Google Groups">comp.sys.apple2</a>, Andrew Roughan sprang into action and found his copy, which had been reclassified as freeware by its author Mike Hackett back in 2005. Just goes to show some more recent software and reclassifications can get lost so quickly.</p><p>Speaking of which, who's got a working archive of Adventure Alive 1 &amp; 2? The links from&nbsp;<a href="http://a2central.com/index.php?s=Adventure+Alive" target="_blank" title="Adventure Alive articles on A2 Central">A2Central</a>&nbsp;no longer point to working SHK files.</p> Mon, 06 Apr 2009 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/splat-found-and-adventure-alive-m-i-a/ Many New Hardware Inclusions http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/many-new-hardware-inclusions/ <p>Welcome to the next round of content additions to 'What is the Apple IIGS?'!</p><p>The&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/disc-controllers/" title="Disc Controllers">disc controllers</a>&nbsp;hardware category now includes scans of each of those expansion cards, plus some new ones. Thanks to Clay Cummins the archive now includes the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/cms-scsi-card/" title="CMS SCSI Card">CMS SCSI</a>&nbsp;card, the Applied Ingenuity&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/inner-drive/" title="Inner Drive">Inner Drive</a>&nbsp;controller card and the Inner Drive itself and the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/cv-technologies-gs-memory/" title="CV Technologies GS Memory">CV Technologies GS Memory</a>&nbsp;card. I've had some other scans for quite a while that I just plain lost track of but, but David Wilson and Ewen Wannop provided scans for the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/insyder-scsi-card/" title="InSyder SCSI Card">InSyder</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/cirtech-scsi-card/" title="Cirtech SCSI Card">Cirtech SCSI</a>&nbsp;cards, along with the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/cirtech-ram/" title="Cirtech 4 meg">Cirtech 4 meg</a>&nbsp;RAM card.</p><p>All roads seemed to converge on&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/computer-eyes-gs/" title="Computer Eyes GS">Computer Eyes GS</a>&nbsp;in the last month or two; I received scans from two different people, Clay Cummins and Matthew Machnee (who also sent a box and manual cover scan), after a couple more individuals let me know they could provide a scan real soon. One of which was Andrew T. Foster, who sent a complete PDF of the Computer Eyes' manual on ahead of a scan of the card itself.</p><p>David Wilson's also contributed a cover scan for the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/apple-iigs-prodos-16-reference/" title="IIGS ProDOS 16 Reference">IIGS ProDOS 16 Reference</a>&nbsp;book.</p><p>I've made some further eBay based purchases, and have bought&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/iconix/" title="Iconix">Iconix</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/sonix/" title="Sonix">Sonix</a>&nbsp;(two programs to allow BASIC to access the better graphics and sound capabilities of the IIGS from its earlier Apple II siblings) and&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/disc-commander/" title="Disc Commander">Disc Commander</a>&nbsp;(a disc utility program). All three were made by So What Software back in the day, which has seen a revamp with the launch of their&nbsp;<a href="http://sowhatsoftware.com" target="_blank" title="So What Software">newly updated site</a>. Be sure to keep an eye out on&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ebay.com" target="_blank" title="eBay">eBay</a>&nbsp;as those items regularly re-appear after auctions finish. Looks like they've got a few left in stock.</p><p>Last, but not least,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/proterm-3-1/" title="ProTerm v3.1">ProTerm v3.1</a>, the venerable 8-bit based comms software, has been&nbsp;<a href="http://lostclassics.apple2.info/downloads/?dl_cat=10" target="_blank" title="ProTERM on Apple II Lost Classics">reclassified freeware</a>&nbsp;by the newly reformed&nbsp;<a href="http://lostclassics.apple2.info/" target="_blank" title="Apple II Lost Classics ">Apple II Lost Classics</a>&nbsp;project. As per the agreement of the freeware version, I have only included a link to that site and not included the archive here on 'What is the Apple IIGS?'.&nbsp;</p> Sun, 19 Apr 2009 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/many-new-hardware-inclusions/ A Little Bit of This and a Little Bit of That http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/a-little-bit-of-this-and-a-little-bit-of-that/ <p>Just a couple of new inclusions:</p><p>Peter Wong sent in a scan for&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/tml-basic/" title="TML BASIC">TML BASIC</a>, beating Paul Zaleski by a week. Sorry Paul! :-)</p><p>Also, in my quest to obtain scans of the covers of everything Apple IIGS related I've been pursuing every avenue I can, including libraries Using the&nbsp;<a href="http://librariesaustralia.nla.gov.au" target="_blank" title="Libraries Australia">Libraries Australia</a>&nbsp;site, which keeps a database on what each Australian library contains, I've found that&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/www.latrobe.edu.au/" target="_blank" title="La Trobe University">La Trobe University</a>&nbsp;has a few items relating to the IIGS. I visited there today, dusted down some IIGS related books and brought my lightweight CanoScan 1240U, but found only one publication the archive was missing -&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/1001-things-to-do-with-your-apple-iigs/" title="1001 Things to do with your Apple IIGS">1001 Things to Do With Your Apple IIGS</a>. I'm making further enquiries as to what software La Trobe has in storage.</p><p>Are there similar repositories in the United States? Is anyone able and willing to visit these libraries and scan the covers of the titles listed on the '<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/you-can-help/" title="You Can Help!">You Can Help!</a>' page?</p><p>In other news, I caught wind that Rich Dreher, hardware designer extraordinaire, is working on a new version of the Compact Flash Card Reader for the Apple II. He's planning on making the next revision include a virtual disk drive feature, meaning that disk images for 3.5&quot; and 5.25&quot; disk drives, at 800k and 140k respectively, can be used instead of using real physical media. This is FANTASTIC news, because it potentially means you'll never need to rely on floppy disks ever again, as disk images can be loaded from a compact flash card, including games (like Alien Mind or GATE) and demos (like those by the FTA) which are not possible to run from a hard drive. Hopefully some software wizardry will be included that will allow users to swap virtual disks mid-game by way of a classic desk accessory, or something similar. To encourage Rich and let him know you'd buy one as soon as they're available, drop him a line via his&nbsp;<a href="http://dreher.net/?s=projects/CFforAppleII&amp;c=projects/CFforAppleII/main.php" target="_blank" title="Rich Dreher's Compact Flash Card Project for Apple II">website</a>.</p><p>Last but not least, the manual included within this archive for the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/cms-scsi-card/" title="CMS SCSI">CMS SCSI</a>&nbsp;card was scanned by Andrew Roughn.</p> Sun, 10 May 2009 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/a-little-bit-of-this-and-a-little-bit-of-that/ The Diary of an Apple II Genius http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/the-diary-of-an-apple-ii-genius/ <p>Wade Clarke wrote in to let me know about the blog of&nbsp;<a href="http://jordanmechner.com/blog/" target="_blank" title="Jordan Mechner Blog">Jordan Mechner</a>, creator of two of the most seminal Apple II gaming classics:&nbsp;<a href="http://jordanmechner.com/karateka/" target="_blank" title="Karateka">Karateka</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="http://jordanmechner.com/prince-of-persia/" target="_blank" title="Prince of Persia">Prince of Persia</a>. Mechner kept a&nbsp;<a href="http://jordanmechner.com/old-journals/" target="_blank" title="Diary of Prince of Persia">diary</a>&nbsp;during developement of Prince of Persia and it reveals all aspects of its production - video filming used as reference and for rotoscoping for the character animation, programming, a construction set program to build the levels, all the usual corporate bullshit that took place at Broderbund, a title screen created on the IIGS, choosing packaging designs, shipping the actual product and tracking its monthly sales with the hope they'll pick up (despite the fact Broderbund knew at that time the Apple II market was slowing down).</p> <p>It's a terrific insight into Mechner's dual passions for film and computer games and his successful marriage of the two. Having finished development of Prince of Perisa nearly 20 years ago, it's wonderful to see that his joy of programming the Apple II and the subsequent success of the Prince of Persia franchise has come full circle and given him enough influence to allow him to write the screenplay (he was writing screenplays at the same time as producing Apple II games) and be executive producer on the upcoming blockbuster film of 'Prince of Persia', released by Disney no less, an inspiration to Mechner in the realm of animation. Jordan Mechner, we salute you!</p> <p>In other more site releted news, I've added archives for&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/your-money-matters/" title="Your Money Matters">Your Money Matters</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/quick-click-morph/" title="Quick Click Morph">Quick Click Morph</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/pmp-fax/" title="PMP FAX">PMP FAX</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/faxination/" title="FAXination">FAXination</a>, Vince Cooper has granted permission to make&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/complete-pascal-was-tml-pascal-/" title="Complete Pascal v2.0">Complete Pascal v2.0</a>&nbsp;available again as long as it's not-for-profit and I've added a list of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/you-can-help/#screen_grabs" title="List of Screen Grabs to Submit">screen grabs</a>&nbsp;required to complete that collection of visual material to include in the coffee table book. If any of these are your favourite games, please revisit them and take as many screen grabs as you can along the way.</p> Sun, 24 May 2009 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/the-diary-of-an-apple-ii-genius/ Welcome to 'What is the Apple IIGS?' v3.1! http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/welcome-to-what-is-the-apple-iigs-v3/ <p>You might notice some improvements around here:</p> <p>The content management system has been updated to <a title="Silverstripe v2.3" href="http://silverstripe.org/">Silverstripe v2.3</a> and with it, a new search feature, so you can quickly find that game/app/educational software/hardware/publication as well as filtering specific search results based on different criteria like year, publisher, etc.</p> <p>Also, you'll also notice we're tapping into eBay - each individual archive will now check if it's available on <a title="eBay" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/#http://www.ebay.com" target="_blank">eBay</a>, as well as displaying the next few IIGS related auctions to go. Collectors shouldn't miss a thing! But that's not all: you can now rate each and every archive on the site, the results of which can be collated for everyone's benefit (especially for newcomers to the IIGS) when finding out what makes up the best of the IIGS.</p> <p>Last but not least, you'll find some nice aesthetic enhancements as well: apart from substituting that distracting animated starburst in the top right hand corner of the layout with a much nicer banner, the site will now suggest to users of Internet Explorer 6 that, well, it's time to enter the 21st century by way of using newer and better alternatives like Firefox, Safari, Opera and Chrome. This will ensure you're browsing the site the way it was intended, not to mention rendering the pages a lot quicker as well. All of these new features are available now, so why not take a dip into IIGS nostalgia once again?</p> <p>Once again, a huge round of applause to Rane Bowen for implementing these new features!</p> Sun, 26 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/welcome-to-what-is-the-apple-iigs-v3/ KansasFest 2009 Finishing Up - Sweet 16 v2.1 announced http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/kansasfest-2009-finishing-up-sweet-16-v2-1-announced/ <p><a href="http://www.kansasfest.org">KansasFest</a>, the regular, annual Apple II get together is coming to a close in&nbsp;Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.A.</p> <p>Eric&nbsp;Shepherd has announced that Sweet 16, the Apple IIGS emulator for Intel and PPC Macs running Mac OS X 10.4 and up, has been updated to version 2.1. Get all the details from the <a title="Sweet 16 v2.1" href="http://www.sheppyware.net/software-mac/sweet16/index.html">Sweet 16 v2.1</a>.</p> <p>I would have loved to have attended the <a href="http://home.datacodsl.com/~kalandi/MtKeiraFest/">Mt Keira Fest</a>, the Australian equivalent held at the same time as KansasFest, but my work priorities prevented me from travelling interstate this year. Next year, hopefully!</p> Sun, 26 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/kansasfest-2009-finishing-up-sweet-16-v2-1-announced/ News Roundup http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news-roundup/ <p>Apologies for the lack updates, life has been very busy. I picked a bad time to not have time, because there's been lots of news:</p> <p>Pre-KansasFest, the web browser based online Apple IIGS emulator <a href="http://activegs.freetoolsassociation.com/" target="_blank">Active X</a> (based on KEGS) was updated by Olivier Goguel to support Intel based Macs! To compliment it, Bill Martens has implemented this new ability into <a title="Virtual Apple ][" href="http://www.virtualapple.org/">Virtual Apple ][</a> so Intel based Mac users can relive the Apple II (and IIGS) via Safari or Firefox.</p> <p>Already mentioned was that <a title="Sweet 16 v2.1" href="http://www.sheppyware.net/software-mac/sweet16/index.html" target="_blank">Sweet 16 v2.1</a> was released at KansasFest for PowerPC and Intel based Macs running Mac OS X 10.4.11 and higher, but now <a title="Sweet 16 v2.1.1" href="http://www.sheppyware.net/downloads/downloads-mac/index.html" target="_blank">Sweet 16 v2.1.1</a> has superseded it, fixing many bugs and improving performance dramatically. Sheppy's created an online <a title="Sweet 16 Survey" href="http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=MYHf8PVx5jySW_2btNWjBt9Q_3d_3d" target="_blank">Sweet 16 Survey</a> through which users can let him know what they'd like to see improved.</p> <p>During <a title="Mt KeiraFest" href="http://web.aanet.com.au/~kalandi/MtKeiraFest/" target="_blank">Mt KeiraFest</a>, Mike Stephenson released v1.0 of <a title="Colouring for the IIGS" href="http://www.cirruscomms.com.au/~mike_stephens/apple2/Pascal_Programming/IIgs_Colouring/index.html" target="_blank">Colouring for the IIGS</a>. I love this program: when it first came out in beta, the years seemed to go into reverse, back when the Apple II still reigned supreme for children's software. Great stuff and another reason why any IIGS should be kept so kids can explore our favourite computer too.</p> <p>More recently, <a title="Brutal Deluxe" href="http://www.brutal-deluxe.fr/" target="_blank">Brutal Deluxe</a> have been working more of their magic to improving GS/OS. Not content with their accomplishments to add improved DOS 3.3, DOS 3.2 and rDOS <a title="File System Translators" href="http://www.brutal-deluxe.fr/products/apple2gs/fsts.html" target="_blank">File System Translators</a> (FSTs) they've now made it possible to <a title="mount disk image archives" href="http://www.brutal-deluxe.fr/products/apple2gs/mountit.html" target="_blank">mount disk image archives</a> on the System 6.0.1 desktop and behave like RAM disks.</p> <p>Rich Dreher's deep in development for his <a title="CFFA3000 project" href="http://dreher.net/?s=projects/CFforAppleII&amp;c=projects/CFforAppleII/main.php" target="_blank">CFFA3000 project</a>, an expansion card that will add a virtual floppy drive to your original Apple II hardware and allow you to boot from disk images typically used by emulators. If you haven't already, pass on a message to Rich to show your interest...and why wouldn't you be interested when this single expansion card can replace all of your physical floppy disks and drives!</p> <p>I love a good icon for Mac OS X and <a title="Pixel Press Icons" href="http://www.pixelpressicons.com/" target="_blank">Pixel Press Icons</a> has released some retro goodness in the form of their most recent creations covering vintage Apple hardware.</p> <p>Last but not least, we've got some new content for the site: the '<a title="Using Appleworks GS" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/using-appleworks-gs-que-pub/" target="_blank">Using Appleworks GS</a>' book cover has been submitted to us by Thomas McLaren from <a title="DigitalDinos" href="http://www.digitaldinos.com/" target="_blank">DigitalDinos</a>, which incidentally, has a good range of Apple II items on sale at prices cheaper than what you'll see on eBay. Clay Cummins has also pitched in and submitted a scan of the <a title="Digicard 4 meg RAM card" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/digicard-ram/" target="_blank">Digicard 4 meg RAM card</a>.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> Mon, 17 Aug 2009 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news-roundup/ Sweet 16 v2.1.3 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/sweet-16-v2-1/ <p>Sheppy continues to update <a title="Sweet 16" href="http://www.sheppyware.net/software-mac/sweet16/index.html" target="_blank">Sweet 16</a> and fix those lingering bugs. Version 2.1.3 fixes speed control and further improves emulation performance for PowerPC based Macs. The recent disks menu has been cleaned up as well, making it easier to find the recent disk you're looking for from the list.</p> <p>Another bug that's been reported and the cause found is a 'key repeat' issue, whereby you may encounter Sweet 16 randomly repeating keys, usually occurring after you make multiple key strokes yourself. The cause has been traced to the 'EasyAccess' system setup init, and disabling it will completely fix the problem. I've disabled the extension on both the <a title="System 6.0.1" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/harddrive_image.zip">System 6.0.1</a> hard drive image and the <a title="image with Taifun Boot" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/System_Boot_and_Free_Games.zip">image with Taifun Boot</a> that allows you to boot into multiple different versions of GS/OS from the one ProDOS partition, to help prevent the bug appearing again.</p> <p>Big thanks to Eric Shepherd for continuing to update <a title="Sweet 16" href="http://www.sheppyware.net/software-mac/sweet16/index.html" target="_blank">Sweet 16</a>, a project that yields him no monetary rewards due to the program being freeware.</p> Sun, 30 Aug 2009 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/sweet-16-v2-1/ Thanksgiving Updates http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/thanksgiving-updates/ <p>Why not give an American holiday a spin for providing some much needed updates to &lsquo;What is the Apple IIGS?'. Happy Thanksgiving!</p> <p>Firstly, thanks to Arnaud Brossard at <a href="http://www.apple-iigs.info">www.apple-iigs.info</a>, we have two new software inclusions to the archive. <a title="Storybook Weaver" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/storybook-weaver/">Storybook Weaver</a>, an educational program I've been after forever, has been included and a worthy edition it is; it takes terrific advantage of the IIGS by way of following Apple's Human Interface Guidelines, is System 6 compatible, hard drive installable and uses great graphics. The IIGS's resident cracker, Antoine Vignau, very kindly removed the copy-protection scheme for Storybook Weaver. Incidentally, there is another Storybook Weaver program for the IIGS called &lsquo;Storybook Weaver: World of Make Believe' which was reviewed in GS+ back in their&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/gs-vol4-issue-1-sept-oct-92-/">Sept/Oct 1992 issue</a>. If anyone has any information on that title, it would be greatly appreciated.</p> <p>The other new inclusion is <a title="Drive Cleaner" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/drive-cleaner/">Drive Cleaner</a>. Released by Seven Hills Software in 1992 it came with not only IIGS specific software but a blank (and I mean really blank with no magnetic media inside) disk with which you used the included cleaning pads, placing them in the disk shell and applying cleaning fluid to the exposed area of the pad. The software would specify a certain amount of read rotations of the drive and in the process, cleaning it. The software is provided as is and you may be able to use it with other brands of 3.5" disk cleaning products, but &lsquo;What is the Apple IIGS?' won't be held responsible if it screws up your 3.5" disk drive!</p> <p>Expect to see a larger collaboration between&nbsp;<a href="http://www.apple-iigs.info">www.apple-iigs.info</a>&nbsp;and &lsquo;What is the Apple IIGS?' by year's end.</p> <p>In other exciting news, Ken Franklin, creator of perennially fun classics <a title="One Arm Battle" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/one-arm-battle/">One Arm Battle</a>, <a title="Plunder" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/one-arm-battle/">Plunder</a> and <a title="Milestones 2000" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/one-arm-battle/" target="_blank">Milestones 2000</a>, has released One Arm Battle for the iPhone!&nbsp;<a href="http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/onearm-battle/id334614480?mt=8">Buy it now</a>&nbsp;and enjoy turn based multiple player delight on the go.</p> <p>Making the news yet again, Antoine Vignau of Brutal Deluxe has been up to all sorts of shenanigans. Firstly, he's been disassembling the <a title="Sword of Sodan" href="http://www.brutal-deluxe.fr/projects/sos/index.html" target="_blank">Sword of Sodan</a> demo and revealing all sorts of interesting clues as to the fabled, never released full game and secondly, he's been busy disassembling the IIGS from top to bottom. Hopefully more news will be revealed soon.</p> <p>And now for something completely different: an awesome tribute to the demo scene - in <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qsWFFuYZYI">Lego</a>!</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> Fri, 27 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/thanksgiving-updates/ Christmas Presents! http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/christmas-presents/ <p>This year, thanks chiefly to the efforts of <a title="www.apple-iigs.info" href="http://www.apple-iigs.info" target="_blank">Arnaud Brossard</a>, we have some Christmas cheer to spread around the Apple II community. Never wanted to dip your toes into the waters of some of the IIGS' more involved games? Well fear no longer, as we've got a hell of a lot of complete documentation for games and even a few applications as well:</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/4th-and-inches/"></a>We've got docs for <a title="4th &amp; Inches" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/4th-and-inches/" target="_blank">4th &amp; Inches</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/aaargh-/">Aaargh!</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/alien-mind/">Alien Mind</a>, <a title="Arkanoid II" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/arkanoid-ii/" target="_blank">Arkanoid II</a>, <a title="Art &amp; Film Director" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/art-and-film-director/">Art &amp; Film Director</a>, <a title="Balance of Power" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/balance-of-power-1990/">Balance of Power</a>, <a title="Battle Chess" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/battle-chess/">Battle Chess</a>, <a title="Bubble Ghost" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/bubble-ghost/" target="_blank">Bubble Ghost</a>, <a title="California Games" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/california-games/">California Games</a>, <a title="Copy II Plus v9.1" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/copy-ii-9-1/">Copy II Plus v9</a>, <a title="Dark Castle" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/dark-castle/">Dark Castle</a>, <a title="Defender of the Crown" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/defender-of-the-crown/">Defender of the Crown</a>, <a title="D&eacute;j&agrave; vu" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/deja-vu/" target="_blank">D&eacute;j&agrave; vu</a>, <a title="D&eacute;j&agrave; vu II" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/deja-vu-2/">D&eacute;j&agrave; vu II</a>, <a title="Deluxe Paint II" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/deluxe-paint-ii/">Deluxe Paint II</a>, <a title="Designasaurus" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/designasaurus/">Designasaurus</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/destroyer/">Destroyer</a>, <a title="Dream Zone" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/dream-zone/">Dream Zone</a>, <a title="Final Assault" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/final-assault/">Final Assault</a>, <a title="Gold Rush" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/gold-rush/" target="_blank">Gold Rush</a>, <a title="Great Western Shootout" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/great-western-shootout/">Great Western Shootout</a>, <a title="Hacker II" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/hacker-ii/">Hacker II</a>, <a title="Halls of Montezuma" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/halls-of-montezuma/">Halls of Montezuma</a>, <a title="Hyperstudio" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/hyperstudio-3-1/">Hyperstudio</a>, <a title="Jigsaw" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/jigsaw/">Jigsaw</a>, <a title="Keef the Thief" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/keef-the-thief/">Keef the Thief</a>, <a title="King's Quest" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/king-s-quest/">King's Quest</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/king-s-quest-iv/">King's Quest IV</a>, <a title="Manhunter: New York" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/manhunter-new-york/">Manhunter: New York</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/marble-madness/">Marble Madness</a>, <a title="Mixed up Mother Goose" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/mixed-up-mother-goose/">Mixed up Mother Goose</a>, <a title="Monte Carlo" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/monte-carlo/">Monte Carlo</a>, <a title="Neuromancer" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/neuromancer/">Neuromancer</a>, <a title="Paperboy" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/paperboy/">Paperboy</a>, <a title="Pirates!" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/pirates-/">Pirates</a>, <a title="Questron II" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/questron-ii/">Questron II</a>, <a title="Revolution 76" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/revolution-76/">Revolution 76</a>, <a title="Rocket Ranger" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/rocket-ranger/">Rocket Ranger</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/shadowgate/">Shadowgate</a>, <a title="Shanghai II" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/shanghai-ii/">Shanghai II</a>, <a title="Silent Service" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/silent-service/">Silent Service</a>, <a title="Silpheed" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/silpheed/">Silpheed</a>, <a title="Space Ace" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/space-ace/">Space Ace</a>, <a title="Space Quest" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/space-quest-i/">Space Quest</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/sub-battle-simulator/">Sub Battle Simulator</a>, <a title="Task Force" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/task-force/">Task Force</a>, <a title="Test Drive II" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/test-drive-ii/">Test Drive II</a>, <a title="The Bard's Tale" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/bard-s-tale-i-tales-of-the-unknown-the/">The Bard's Tale</a> (with official hint book!), <a title="the Bard's Tale II" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/bard-s-tale-ii-the-destiny-knight-the/">the Bard's Tale II</a> (also with official hint book!), <a title="the Hunt for Red October" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/hunt-for-red-october-the/">the Hunt for Red October</a>, <a title="The Immortal" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/immortal-the/">The Immortal</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/last-ninja-the/">The Last Ninja</a>, <a title="The Secret of Bahras" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/secrets-of-bahras-the/">The Secret of Bahras</a>, <a title="The Three Stooges" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/three-stooges-the/">The Three Stooges</a>, <a title="Thexder" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/thexder/">Thexder</a>, <a title="Tomahawk" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/tomahawk/">Tomahawk</a>, <a title="Tower of Myraglen" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/tower-of-myraglen/">Tower of Myraglen</a>, <a title="Volcanoes" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/volcanoes-deluxe/">Volcanoes</a>, <a title="Warlock" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/warlock/">Warlock</a>, <a title="Winter Games" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/winter-games/">Winter Games</a>, <a title="World Games" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/world-games/">World Games</a> and <a title="Zany Golf" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/zany-golf/">Zany Golf</a>.</p> <p>Dan Chisarick has also pitched in with a complete scan to the manual for <a title="Omega" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/omega/" target="_blank">Omega</a>; now you should be able to program the A.I. of your killer tank. I've also scanned the docs to <a title="Fast Break" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/fast-break/">Fast Break</a>, which should help you to master this complex basketball game.</p> <p>Arnaud must have spent many, MANY hours scanning in each of the manuals. To compliment his hard work, I've retouched, optimised and OCR'ed every one of them thanks to Acrobat 9 Pro's terrific handling of converting documents to searchable text. That's right folks, each of these PDFs is completely searchable - find that small bite of information super quick.</p> <p>I hope everyone has a very merry Christmas and that you can put all personal differences aside and cherish the times you can spend with your family.</p> Sun, 20 Dec 2009 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/christmas-presents/ Joe Kohn http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/joe-kohn/ <p>It is with equal sadness and shock that I write that Joe Kohn passed away on the 6th of January 2010 after battling lung cancer. Joe was a prolific writer for the Apple II, working for The Apple IIGS Buyers Guide and InCider, after-which creating his own publication <a title="Shareware Solutions II" href="http://users.foxvalley.net/~joko/" target="_blank">Shareware Solutions II</a> to keep coverage of our favourite computer going after the major publishers quit the Apple II. During that time, he published many IIGS programs and collaborated with 'Burger' Becky Heineman and Brutal Deluxe. He will be sorely missed.</p> Sat, 09 Jan 2010 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/joe-kohn/ Major Hardware Update http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/major-hardware-update/ <p>Thanks to Tony Diaz of <a title="16 Sector" href="http://16sector.com/" target="_blank">16 Sector</a>, the archive has experienced the largest&nbsp;single&nbsp;hardware contribution yet...and given that it leaves little left to desire, there probably won't be another large hardware haul like this ever again! But Tony might keep us guessing. After all, by the description of his house, a labyrinthine maze where one's path is blocked at every turn by walls of retro gear reaching the ceiling...anything might turn up next!</p> <p>Sink your teeth into these little beauties:</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/apple-1meg-ram-expansion/"></a><a title="Apple 1 meg RAM" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/apple-1meg-ram-expansion/">Apple 1 meg RAM</a> (curiously labelled Vegas), <a title="The Apple II Ethernet card" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/apple-ii-ethernet-card/">The Apple II Ethernet card</a> (yes, the one that never got released!), the <a title="Applied Engineering GS-RAM 2 Meg Expander" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/gs-ram-2-meg-expander/">Applied Engineering GS-RAM 2 Meg Expander</a>, <a title="AST Vision Plus" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/ast-visionplus/">AST Vision Plus</a> (the precursor to the <a title="Visionary GS" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/visionary-gs/">Visionary GS</a>), <a title="Chinook 4 Meg RAM" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/chinook-ram-400/">Chinook 4 Meg RAM</a>, <a title="Cirtech Plus RAM 8" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/cirtech-plus-ram/">Cirtech Plus RAM 8</a>, <a title="Cirtech ROMDisk GS" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/cirtech-romdisk-gs/">Cirtech ROMDisk GS</a>, <a title="Doctor Design Sound Card" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/doctor-design-sound-card/">Doctor Design Sound Card</a>, <a title="Epic 2400 Classic Rev C" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/epic-2400-classic-ii/">Epic 2400 Classic Rev C</a>, <a title="Applied Visions Inc. FutureSound" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/futuresound/">Applied Visions Inc. FutureSound</a>, <a title="Applied Ingenuity GStereo" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/g-stereo/">Applied Ingenuity GStereo</a>, a <a title="generic RAM card that can hold either 512k or 2meg" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/generic-512k-or-2meg/">generic RAM card that can hold either 512k or 2meg</a>, <a title="Applied Ingenuity GS Juice Plus" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/gs-juice-plus/">Applied Ingenuity GS Juice Plus</a> and regular <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/gs-juice/">GS Juice</a>, <a title="GS Super Expander" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/super-expander-gs/">GS Super Expander</a>, <a title="Hayes Smart Modem 1200A" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/hayes-smart-modem-1200a/">Hayes Smart Modem 1200A</a>, <a title="Hyperstudio Sound Card" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/hyperstudio-sound-card/">Hyperstudio Sound Card</a>, <a title="Pacemark IIGS Super RAM II" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/pacemark-iigs-super-ram-ii/">Pacemark IIGS Super RAM II</a>, <a title="LANce GS" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/lancegs/">LANce GS</a>, <a title="MDIdeas Digitizer Pro" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/mdideas-digitizer-pro/">MDIdeas Digitizer Pro</a>, <a title="MDIdeas OctoRAM" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/octoram/">MDIdeas OctoRAM</a>, <a title="Mexel DynaRAM 1meg" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/mexel-dynaram-1meg/">Mexel DynaRAM 1meg</a>, <a title="Parallax TopRAM" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/parallax-top-ram/">Parallax TopRAM</a>, <a title="SoundMeister" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/soundmeister/">SoundMeister</a> (in Alltech red livery), the <a title="Uther Ethernet Card" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/uther-ethernet-card/">Uther Ethernet Card</a> (the current darling of enabling Ethernet on a IIGS or IIe), the <a title="Zip Drive" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/zip-drive-gs/">Zip Drive</a> (nope, not the one from Iomega, rather an alternative to the <a title="Focus Drive" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/focus/">Focus Drive</a>), the <a title="Mark Twain Daughter Board" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/mark-twain-daughter-board/">Mark Twain Daughter Board</a> (yep, something from the unreleased ROM04) and the <a title="Cortland ROM Card" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/cortland-rom-card/">Cortland ROM Card</a>.</p> <p>Additionally, Tony has provided some factual tidbits to most of these new additions.</p> <p>Last, but certainly not least, Andy Molloy has provided a great scan of the cover to the &lsquo;<a title="System 6 Book" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/the-system-6-book/">System 6 Book</a>' by Jerry Kindall. This brings the archive for book covers precariously close to being finished - check out the <a title="books section" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/publications-books/">books section</a> and see if you've got one of the missing covers, then <a title="scan and submit it" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/you-can-help/##box_scans">scan and submit it</a>.</p> Tue, 02 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/major-hardware-update/ Manual Mania! http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/manual-mania/ <p>A lot of people seem to think 2010 is the year of the tablet...think again! It's the year of the manual! That's right, 'What is the Apple IIGS?' now has even more documentation on IIGS games and applications! Arnaud Brossard's manual scans of <a title="Arnaud Brossard's Manuals" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/christmas-presents/">last year</a> have inspired me to scan all of my own manuals and as luck would have it, Antoine Vignau of <a title="Brutal Deluxe" href="http://www.brutal-deluxe.fr/" target="_blank">Brutal Deluxe</a> (the man who doesn't sleep) was also doing the same with his original documentation. As even further luck would have it, there was little crossover between us, so all our efforts have combined with Arnaud's contributions have gone on to produce a very comprehensive library of documentation. Again, each of these PDFs is completely searchable as all text has been OCRed.</p> <p>Antoine's contributions to games have been:</p> <p><a title="Cogito" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/cogito/">Cogito</a> and the <a title="The Tinies" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/the-tinies/">Tinies</a> (both of which Antoine and Olivier Zardini ported to the IIGS back in the 90s), <a title="Impossible Mission II" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/impossible-mission-2/">Impossible Mission II</a>, <a title="Reach for the Stars" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/reach-for-the-stars/">Reach for the Stars</a>,&nbsp;<a title="Shadowgate" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/shadowgate/">Shadowgate</a>,&nbsp;<a title="Shanghai" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/shanghai/">Shanghai</a>, <a title="Sword of Sodan" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/sword-of-sodan/">Sword of Sodan</a> (yep, it wasn't released for the IIGS, but here's the documentation from the Amiga version),&nbsp;<a title="Transylvania III" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/transylvania-iii/">Transylvania III</a>, <a title="Ultima I" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/ultima-i/">Ultima I</a>.</p> <p>Antoine's also covered a lot of apps:</p> <p><a title="Pegasoft DrawTools v3.1" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/pegasoft-draw-tools-v3/">Pegasoft DrawTools v3.1</a> (for which I've created a new archive), <a title="Instant Music" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/instant-music/">Instant Music</a>, <a title="Pyware Instrument Designer" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/pyware-instrument-designer/">Pyware Instrument Designer</a>, <a title="Pyware Music Writer" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/pyware-music-writer/">Pyware Music Writer</a>, <a title="Inwords" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/inwords-1-1/">Inwords</a>,&nbsp;<a title="List Plus" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/list-plus/">List Plus</a>,&nbsp;<a title="Master Tracks Junior" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/master-tracks-jr/">Master Tracks Junior</a>,&nbsp;<a title="Micol Advanced BASIC v5.0" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/micol-advanced-basic/">Micol Advanced BASIC v5.0</a>,&nbsp;<a title="Music Construction Set" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/music-contruction-set/">Music Construction Set</a>,&nbsp;<a title="Signature GS" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/signature-gs/">Signature GS</a>, <a title="discQuest v1.2" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/discquest-v1/">discQuest v1.2</a> (for which I've created an entry for in the Hypermedia category), <a title="Graphic Writer III" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/graphic-writer-iii/">Graphic Writer v2.0</a>, <a title="Softwood GSFile" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/softwood-gsfile/">Softwood GSFile</a>, <a title="NoiseTracker" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/noisetracker/">NoiseTracker</a>.</p> <p>as well as some educational software:</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/fractal-explorer/">Fractal Explorer</a>, <a title="Kid's Time II" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/kid-s-time-ii/">Kid's Time II</a>.</p> <p>My own gaming contributions are as follows, and this should now allow for many of the more complex games to be played much more easily with background story, rules, objectives, hints &amp; tips:</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/ancient-land-of-ys/">Ancient Land of Ys</a>, <a title="Arkanoid" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/arkanoid/">Arkanoid</a>, <a title="Beyond Zork" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/beyond-zork/">Beyond Zork</a>, <a title="Block Out" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/block-out/">Block Out</a>, <a title="Captain Blood" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/captain-blood/">Captain Blood</a>, <a title="Cribbage &amp; Gin King" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/gin-king-cribbage-king/">Cribbage &amp; Gin King</a>, <a title="Cryllan Mission 2088" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/cryllan-mission-2088/">Cryllan Mission 2088</a>, <a title="Downhill Challenge" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/downhill-challenge/">Downhill Challenge</a>, <a title="Dragon Wars" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/dragon-wars/">Dragon Wars</a>, <a title="Dungeon Master" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/dungeon-master/">Dungeon Master</a>, <a title="Gauntlet" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/gauntlet/">Gauntlet</a>, <a title="Hardball!" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/hardball-/">Hardball!</a>, <a title="Hover Blade" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/hover-blade/">Hover Blade</a>, <a title="Keef the Thief" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/keef-the-thief/">Keef the Thief</a>, <a title="Laser Force" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/laser-force/">Laser Force</a>, <a title="Life &amp; Death" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/life-and-death/">Life &amp; Death</a>, <a title="Mancala" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/mancala/">Mancala</a>, <a title="Mean 18" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/mean-18/">Mean 18</a>, <a title="Panzer Battles" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/panzer-battles/">Panzer Battles</a>, <a title="Pipe Dream" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/pipe-dream/">Pipe Dream</a>, <a title="Qix" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/qix/">Qix</a>, <a title="Rastan" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/rastan/">Rastan</a>, <a title="Sinbad &amp; the Throne of the Falcon" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/sinbad-and-the-throne-of-the-falcon/">Sinbad &amp; the Throne of the Falcon</a>, <a title="Skate or Die" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/skate-or-die/">Skate or Die</a>,&nbsp;<a title="Sea Strike" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/sea-strike/">Sea Strike</a>,&nbsp;<a title="Serve &amp; Volley" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/serve-and-volley/">Serve &amp; Volley</a>,&nbsp;<a title="Strip Poker II" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/strip-poker-ii/">Strip Poker II</a>,&nbsp;<a title="Tass Times in Tonetown" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/tass-times-in-tonetown/">Tass Times in Tonetown</a>,&nbsp;<a title="The Lost Tribe" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/lost-tribe-the/">The Lost Tribe</a>,&nbsp;<a title="The Third Courier" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/third-courier-the/">The Third Courier</a>,&nbsp;<a title="Triango" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/triango/">Triango</a>,&nbsp;<a title="Tunnels of Armageddon" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/tunnels-of-armageddon/">Tunnels of Armageddon</a>,&nbsp;<a title="Uninvited" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/uninvited/">Uninvited</a>,&nbsp;<a title="Vegas Craps" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/vegas-craps/">Vegas Craps</a>,&nbsp;<a title="Vegas Gambler" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/vegas-gambler/">Vegas Gambler</a>,&nbsp;<a title="WindWalker" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/windwalker/">WindWalker</a>,&nbsp;<a title="World Games" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/world-games/">World Games</a>.</p> <p>For additional good measure, I also scanned the solutions to <a title="Questron II" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/questron-ii/">Questron II</a> and <a title="Tower of Myraglen" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/tower-of-myraglen/">Tower of Myraglen</a> from Quest for Clues Book II. With all this added documentation for RPGs and sim games, if anyone would like to take <a title="Screen Shots" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/you-can-help/#screen_grabs">screen shots</a> while playing these games, it would be greatly appreciated.</p> <p>And then there are my scans for application software:</p> <p><a title="DeskWorks (Beagle Brothers Desk Accessories)" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/gs-desk-accessories/">DeskWorks (Beagle Brothers Desk Accessories)</a>,&nbsp;<a title="Dream Grafix" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/dream-grafix/">Dream Grafix</a>,&nbsp;<a title="Fantavision" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/fantavision/">Fantavision</a>,&nbsp;<a title="Graphics Studio" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/graphics-studio/">Graphics Studio</a>, <a title="Harmonie" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/harmonie-2-1/">Harmonie</a>, <a title="Paintworks Gold" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/paintworks-gold/">Paintworks Gold</a>, <a title="Paintworks Plus" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/paintworks-plus/">Paintworks Plus</a>,&nbsp;<a title="Shoebox" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/shoebox-v1-1/">Shoebox</a>,&nbsp;<a title="The Desktop Manger" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/desktop-manager/">The Desktop Manger</a>,&nbsp;<a title="The Manager" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/the-manager/">The Manager</a>,&nbsp;<a title="The Music Studio v2.0" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/music-studio-v2-0/">The Music Studio v2.0</a>, <a title="The Print Shop" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/print-shop-the/">The Print Shop</a>,&nbsp;<a title="The Print Shop Companion" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/print-shop-companion-the/">The Print Shop Companion</a>,&nbsp;<a title="TopDraw" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/beagle-draw-was-topdraw-/">TopDraw</a>.</p> <p>Educational software:</p> <p><a title="GSymbolix" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/symbolix/">GSymbolix</a>&nbsp;(Eureka Symbolix)</p> <p>Hardware:</p> <p><a title="ThunderScan" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/thunderscan/">ThunderScan</a></p> <p>Because we've come so far with documentation so relatively quickly, I ask other IIGS fans to look through their own collection to see if they can scan in the following in the hope we can one day have complete documentation:</p> <p>Airball<br />Ancient Glory<br />Bouncing Bluster II<br />Cavern Cobra<br />Firepower<br />Futureshock 3D<br />GATE<br />King of Chicago<br />Mazer II<br />Space Fox<br />Space Shark</p> <p>Lost Treasures of Infocom<br />Questmaster I</p> <p>Bridge 6.0<br />Chess Master 2100<br />Club Backgammon<br />Full Metal Planete<br />Gold of the Americas<br />Kaleidokubes<br />Mad Match<br />Pick n Pile<br />Solitaire &amp; Cribbage<br />Solitaire Royale<br />Tetris</p> <p>Cryllan Mission 2088: The Second Scenario<br />Mighty Marvel Vs the Forces of E.V.I.L.<br />Roadwar 2000<br />Spirit of Excalibur<br />Star Saga One<br />Star Saga Two</p> <p>Grand Prix Circuit<br />Hostage<br />Subversion<br />GBA Championship Basketball<br />Gnarly Golf<br />Jack Nicklaus Greatest 18 Holes of Major Championship Golf<br />John Elway's Quarterback<br />Mini Putt<br />Street Sports Soccer<br />Superstar Ice Hockey<br />World Tour Golf</p> <p>Apps:</p> <p>Calendar Crafter<br />Medley 2.0<br />Notes 'n' Files<br />Smart Money<br />Word Perfect<br />Your Money Matters</p> <p>Cartooners<br />Color Plus<br />Designer Prints<br />Designer Puzzles<br />Draw Plus<br />DYOH: Architecture<br />DYOH: Interiors<br />DYOH: Landscape<br />Graphic Writer III v3.0 (by Richard Bennett)<br />Graphics Supermarket<br />Hometown U.S.A.<br />Imagemaster: Basic Paint<br />Mercury<br />Platinum Paint<br />Show Off!</p> <p>Diversi-Tune v1.1<br />Instant Synthesizer<br />Master Tracks Pro</p> <p>Nexus</p> <p>Auto Ark<br />Balloon v2.0<br />DeskPak<br />Express v2.1<br />Flash Boot<br />Font Factory v2.0<br />The Graphic Exchange<br />GS Font Editor<br />HyperLaunch<br />Independence<br />Kangaroo v1.3<br />Life Guard<br />Pointless v2.0.3<br />Prism<br />Salvation Supreme<br />Second Chance<br />Soft Switch<br />Super Convert v4.0<br />Switch-It!<br />Trans Prog III<br />TypeSet<br />Universe Master<br />Wings</p> <p>Teleworks Plus<br />FAXination</p> <p>We'll focus on eduuational software a bit later.</p> <p>I've reviewed the steps I've taken to scan manuals for best possible quality, so if you'd like to submit something, check out these <a title="Manual Scan Guidelines" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/you-can-help/#manual_scans">guidelines first</a>.</p> Wed, 17 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/manual-mania/ Another Round of Updates http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/another-round-of-updates/ <p>Tony Diaz has submitted cover scans for two of the missing issues of the <a title="Apple IIGS Buyer's Guide" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/buyers-guide/">Apple IIGS Buyer's Guide</a>, specifically <a title="Fall 1987" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/apple-iigs-buyer-s-guide-fall-1987/">Fall 1987</a> and <a title="Spring 1988" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/apple-iigs-buyer-s-guide-fall-1987/">Spring 1988</a>. Tony recalls that Joe Kohn gave one or both of these magazines to him, so not only can we thank Joe for the legacy of his writing, but also for these scans.</p> <p>Not only that, Tony's also submitted cover scans for the <a title="books" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/publications-books/">books</a> <a title="Apple 16" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/apple-16/">Apple 16</a>, <a title="Programming the IIGS in C &amp; Assembly" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/programming-the-apple-iigs-in-c-and-assembly-language/">Programming the IIGS in C &amp; Assembly</a> and <a title="All That GS Jazz Vol. II" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/all-that-gs-jazz-/">All That GS Jazz Vol. II</a>.</p> <p>Tony's also contributed even more hardware scans, so when it comes to <a title="RAM" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/ram/">RAM</a>, you can rely on using this site as a reference to quickly identify those expansion cards you find in the odd IIGS picked up at a garage sale or thrift/recycle store. The latest additions include the <a title="Applied Engineering GS-RAM II" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/gs-ram-ii/">Applied Engineering GS-RAM II</a>, <a title="QRAM" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/qram/">QRAM</a> and <a title="RAMPak4GS" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/rampak-4gs/">RAMPak4GS</a>. At the almost the same time, both Tony and Wayne Stewart submitted scans for the 4+4 revision of the <a title="Sirius RAM card" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/sirius-ram/">Sirius RAM card</a>, and it took me a while to distinguish between the 4+4 Rev versus the version 2.0 revision scan I already had; both are now included.</p> <p>Wayne's also submitted the <a title="Parallax TopRAM" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/parallax-top-ram/">Parallax TopRAM</a> manual, in his perfect PDF reproduction style.</p> <p>If it's one thing you can count on at the moment, it's that Antoine Vignau of <a title="Brutal Deluxe" href="http://www.brutal-deluxe.fr/" target="_blank">Brutal Deluxe</a> is always up to something with the Apple II. Recently, he's patched <a title="Bubble Ghost" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/bubble-ghost/">Bubble Ghost</a>, <a title="Gauntlet" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/gauntlet/">Gauntlet</a> and <a title="Paperboy" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/paperboy/">Paperboy</a> to run from a hard drive, as well as System 6. I've updated the individual 2image archives for these titles, as well as the 32 meg ProDOS image that includes all <a title="action games" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/Action_Games.zip">action games</a>. Three cheers for less disk handling! He's also scanned in the rare paid shareware version manual for <a title="DuelTris" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/dueltris/">DuelTris</a>, as well as scanned the Mac version's cover art for <a title="Cogito" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/cogito/">Cogito</a> and <a title="the Tinies" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/the-tinies/">the Tinies</a>.</p> <p>As I've been pouring through A+ and InCider magazines looking for content to add to the book, I came across some interesting IIGS titles that I'd not previously listed. They're all <a title="Hypermedia" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/hypermedia-applications/">Hypermedia</a> titles and they all involve the use of an accompanying laser disc; a device for playback and control of laser discs with the IIGS was almost completely unheard of, but none-the-less, these titles were developed for the education market. <a title="GTV" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/gtv-a-geographic-perspective-on-american-history/">GTV</a> was the first, but then the Science Vision series followed (at least according to InCider/A+).</p> <p>In addition, I came across an article in InCider/A+ December 1990 to perhaps the only IIGS specific CD-ROM software title: <a title="Your WordBox!" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/yourwordbox/">Your WordBox!</a></p> <p>If anyone has more info on these very rare titles, please <a title="write in" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/submit-news/">write in</a>.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> Sun, 21 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/another-round-of-updates/ Probe GS Uncovered, AppleWorks GS Documentation & Renegade Box Scans http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/probe-gs-uncovered-appleworks-gs-documentation-renegade-box-scans/ <p>Kyle Wadsten of <a title="Plaid Vest Software" href="http://www.plaidvest.com/" target="_blank">Plaid Vest Software</a> wrote in to let me know of his <a title="Probe GS" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/probe-gs/">Probe GS</a> block editor program that he released way back in 1987. Not just letting me know about it, he also included a disk image and PDF manual as well as his wish that it would appear on 'What is the Apple IIGS?'.</p> <p>Antoine's as busy as ever, and has contributed the complete documentation to that perennial productivity favourite, <a title="AppleWorks GS" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/appleworks-gs/">AppleWorks GS</a>. Like any accompanying PDF manual, you'll find the link to download it under the link to download the disk image archive. Expect to see even more documentation soon.</p> <p>Lastly, I've included a box scan for the 8-bit version of <a title="Renegade" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/renegade/">Renegade</a>. If you look really carefully, you can see the GS screen grab in the right hand bottom of the synopsis for the game. The score is using the font Shaston, so it was definitely a screen shot from some point in the game's development for the IIGS. If only someone would come forward and let the GS version out into the wild!</p> Sun, 04 Apr 2010 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/probe-gs-uncovered-appleworks-gs-documentation-renegade-box-scans/ Italy Represents! http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/italy-represents/ <p>The IIGS has always been well represented across English and French speaking countries, but now Italy's love of our favourite Apple II is now indelibly stamped on the web at&nbsp;<a title="Apple IIGS: ieri, oggi e domani" href="http://www.apple2gs.oldcomputers.it" target="_blank">Apple IIGS: ieri, oggi e domani</a>&nbsp;(that's&nbsp;Apple IIGS: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow for those of us unfamiliar with the romantic language). There are great scans of many different magazines featuring the IIGS at the time of its launch, not to mention a tonne of hardware hacks and all-round tinkering. Lavoro piacevole Mauro!</p> Sat, 10 Apr 2010 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/italy-represents/ New Apple II Archive - Apple2Online http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/new-apple-ii-archive-apple2online/ <p>Dr. Ken Buchholz wrote in to me know about his <a title="Apple2Online site" href="http://apple2online.com/" target="_blank">Apple2Online site</a>, a new and independent archive devoted to all models of the Apple II. It's always good that unique archives like this appear and store their own copies of software, because you never know what you might find, like a newer version of an app you've been after for ages or an 8-bit educational program on a 3.5" disk (like I found for the Children's Writing &amp; Publishing Centre, a program I wanted to confirm was not actually IIGS specific).</p> <p>Anyways, enjoy!</p> Sun, 11 Apr 2010 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/new-apple-ii-archive-apple2online/ More Manuals, KEGS the Basis for New GSport Emulator and Catan http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/more-manuals-kegs-the-basis-for-new-gsport-emulator-and-catan/ <p>Antoine Vignau has volunteered yet more manuals for games, educational software and applications:</p> <p><a title="Pipe Dream" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/pipe-dream/">Pipe Dream</a> (the reference card), <a title="Foundation v1.02" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/foundation-v1-02/">Foundation v1.02</a> and <a title="Genesys" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/genesys/">Genesys</a> (both resource editing apps), <a title="The Graphics Supermarket" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/graphics-supermarket/">The Graphics Supermarket</a>, <a title="The Graphics Exchange" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/graphic-exchange-the/">The Graphics Exchange</a>, <a title="Cavern Cobra" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/cavern-cobra/">Cavern Cobra</a>, <a title="Visualizer" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/visualizer/">Visualizer</a> and <a title="SmoothTalker" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/smoothtalker/">SmoothTalker</a>.</p> <p>Additionally, Antoine has provided rare French documentation to Seven Hills Software titles <a title="The Manager" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/the-manager/">The Manager</a>, <a title="Kangaroo" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/kangaroo-v1-3/">Kangaroo</a>, <a title="Express" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/express-v2-1/">Express</a> and <a title="Transprog III" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/trans-prog-iii/">Transprog III</a>. Speaking of Seven Hills titles, if you have the latest versions of the Manager (beyond version 1.0), Kangaroo (beyond version 1.3) and Transprog III (beyond version 1.1) I'd love to <a title="hear from you" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/submit-news/">hear from you</a>.</p> <p>As Antoine provides more documentation, so do I, delving into my IIGS educational software with classics <a title="Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/where-in-the-world-is-carmen-sandiego-/">Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego</a> and <a title="Where in the USA is Carmen Sandiego" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/where-in-the-usa-is-carmen-sandiego-/">Where in the USA is Carmen Sandiego</a> as well as <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/geopuzzle-usa/">GeoPuzzle USA</a>.</p> <p>In other news, development of KEGS has split off into another project on <a title="Sourceforge" href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/gsport/" target="_blank">Sourceforge</a> - <a title="GSport" href="http://gsport.sourceforge.net">GSport</a>. Quite a few people have expressed interest in extending KEGS beyond v0.91, which hasn't been updated for a few years. Initial features being developed in GSport are Ethernet/Uthernet and printing support.</p> <p>Speaking of Sourceforge, I found a project there for a 'port' of <a title="Catan" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Settlers_of_Catan" target="_blank">Catan</a> (it's a popular European board game) to the IIGS called <a title="gsSettlers" href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/gssettlers/" target="_blank">gsSettlers</a>&nbsp;back in 2009.&nbsp;I tried contacting the founder of the project at the time, but got no reply. Sounds like a great idea for a game, so if anyone can <a title="provide further news" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/submit-news/">provide further news</a> on this project, it would be appreciated.</p> Tue, 20 Apr 2010 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/more-manuals-kegs-the-basis-for-new-gsport-emulator-and-catan/ Storybook Weaver: Entirely Recovered! Remember the Children! http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/storybook-weaver-entirely-recovered-remember-the-children/ <p>There's still some software for the Apple IIGS that eludes capture. Like <a title="missing episodes of Doctor Who" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Who_missing_episodes" target="_blank">missing episodes of Doctor Who</a>, the likelihood of ever finding them becomes less likely as time drags on, but Bill Garber has slapped the face of depressing odds: back in December 2009, Bill scored the winning bid to an eBay auction that included a slew of MECC titles.</p> <p><a title="MECC" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MECC" target="_blank">MECC</a>, or the Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium/Corporation, was the developer and purveyor of many quality 8-bit Apple II programs throughout the 80s, (one title not least of which was the <a title="Oregon Trail" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Oregon_Trail_%28computer_game%29" target="_blank">Oregon Trail</a>) and continued producing Apple II software well into the 90s, meeting demand in schools across the U.S.; all this in spite of the fact that all of the fruity logo company's attempts at this time were to ensure that the only Apple in education's eye was the Macintosh.</p> <p>MECC also published Apple IIGS software, most of which is held within this archive. <a title="Storybook Weaver" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/storybook-weaver/">Storybook Weaver</a>, a IIGS program I had only cottoned onto of its existence in recent years, was provided by <a title="Arnaud Brossard" href="http://www.apple-iigs.info/home.php" target="_blank">Arnaud Brossard</a> and cracked by <a title="Antoine Vignau" href="http://www.brutal-deluxe.fr" target="_blank">Antoine Vignau</a> only last year. This hidden treasure carries the quality traits of other IIGS MECC software.</p> <p>Flicking through <a title="GS+ magazine" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/gs-vol4-issue-1-sept-oct-92-/">GS+ magazine</a>, I came across a review for &lsquo;Storybook Weaver: World of Make Believe'. MECC made more than one? Great news, except that no-one has ever approached me in the ten years I've been running this archive asking about it or offering it.</p> <p>But then came this bumper auction on eBay, re-listed several times as the original asking price was asking one hundred times of what people are actually willing to pay for vintage software like this. But it's true to say it was rare, because not only did it include many 8-bit titles available on convenient 3.5" disks (sure reduces a lot of disk swapping compared to 5.25" inch disks) that weren't already on the Asimov archive, it also included <a title="Storybook Weaver: World of Make Believe" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/storybook-weaver-world-of-make-believe/">Storybook Weaver: World of Make Believe</a> AND <a title="Storybook Weaver: World of Adventure" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/storybook-weaver-world-of-adventure/">Storybook Weaver: World of Adventure</a>. Some great purchasing and imaging of the disks by Bill and more cracking by Antoine, and we've gotten another step closer to a complete educational software archive for the IIGS.</p> <p>Speaking of cracking, Antoine is effectively keeping a log of his cracking exploits on the <a title="HackZapple site" href="http://www.hackzapple.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=13&amp;sid=a4dc575feadef2754d85e8aa66a00b8b" target="_blank">HackZapple site</a>. It's a great record of how to deprotect various games and apps, so if you're vaguely inclined to open a sector editor to make unprotected and hard drive installable versions of software, be sure to join in.</p> <p>Not only does a more complete archive go hand in hand with the objective of &lsquo;What is the Apple IIGS?' (that is to archive every piece of commercial software) it also fulfils a personal wish to collect as much educational Apple II software as possible, especially if it's 8-bit software on a 3.5" disk. Some of you may be thinking why bother when there's loads more titles on 5.25" disks. Well, 3.5" inch 8-bit software has some advantages, especially used with a IIGS: for one, there's no disk swapping (no educational software should do this as it allows kids to tune out), two, using this software on a real IIGS becomes easier as 3.5" disks are much easier to find than 5.25" disks and three, chances are the software can be cracked to also allow use on a hard drive.</p> <p>It's my hope one day to bond with my kids (when children do arrive one day!) by playing together on an Apple IIGS, learning first with <a title="McGee" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/mcgee/">McGee</a> and the 8-bit Playroom, then moving on to <a title="Reading &amp; Me" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/reading-and-me/">Reading &amp; Me</a>, <a title="Math &amp; Me" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/math-and-me/">Math &amp; Me</a>, <a title="Milliken Story Teller" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/milliken-story-teller/">Milliken Story Teller</a>, working up to the Orange Cherry, Unicorn and Davidson's software for ages 6 and up. Perhaps after that it might be hard to tear kids away from a Playstation 5, but I'd hope at least to enjoy sharing some <a title="Carmen Sandiego" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/where-in-the-world-is-carmen-sandiego-/">Carmen Sandiego</a> and the wonders of travel.</p> <p>To that end, I've assembled a list of 8-bit educational software on 3.5" disk that isn't currently held on Asimov. If anyone can provide disk images of the following, Antoine will be able to crack them and more recorded history will be possible:</p> <p>Stickybear Reading Tutor (Weekly Reader Software)<br />Grammar Gremlins (Davidson)<br />Word Attack Plus! Vocabulary (Davidson)<br />Algebra Blaster Plus! (Davidson)<br />The Treehouse (Broderbund)<br />Oregon Trail (MECC)</p> <p>It's also likely that there are many other MECC titles available, but without a definite list/catalogue of those titles, it's hard to know what else was available on 3.5" disk, but Bill and Antoine are creating disk images of all the titles in that eBay haul.</p> <p>Also, there are still these IIGS specific titles that still require disk images:</p> <p>Talking Dinosaur Reader<br />Talking USA Map<br />Talking Academic Quiz Kid<br />Computer Video Reader: World of Nature - Reading About Animals; Reading About Sharks<br />Bird Watcher<br />Inner Body Works<br />Logic Master<br />Playwrite: the Talking Puppets.</p> <p>So if anyone can <a title="provide" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/submit-2image-archive/">provide</a> any of the above, it would be incredibly appreciated.</p> <p>In the spirit of furthering educational software, I've been continuing to scan the various manuals I have for IIGS specific titles. So parents, I hope you can stretch more worth out these titles:</p> <p><a title="Katie's Farm" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/katie-s-farm/">Katie's Farm</a>, <a title="McGee at the Funfair" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/mcgee-at-the-funfair/">McGee at the Funfair</a>, <a title="Stickybear Talking Alphabet" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/stickybear-talking-abc/">Stickybear Talking Alphabet</a>, <a title="Stickybear Talking Opposites" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/stickybear-talking-opposites/">Stickybear Talking Opposites</a> and <a title="Stickybear Talking Shapes" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/stickybear-talking-shapes/">Stickybear Talking Shapes</a>.</p> <p>One last present from Bill Garber (for this update at least) is the documentation to the useful commercial NDA utlity <a title="Disk Access" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/disk-access/">Disk Access</a>.</p> Mon, 24 May 2010 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/storybook-weaver-entirely-recovered-remember-the-children/ Where in the World is Alex Lee? http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/where-in-the-world-is-alex-lee/ <p>So, some of you might have been wondering what's going on with the site with the outage and lack of updates.</p> <p>Fear not.</p> <p>Back in late June I quit my job as senior graphic designer at Madman Entertainment after 7.5 years and with my partner Bronwen and embarked upon a planned 5 month long discovery of Europe. We've now completed that leg of our adventure and are now trying to live in the UK with working visas.</p> <p>During our time living in England, it might be a good opportunity to meet up with those unique and isolated individuals in the UK who chose the Apple II over the homegrown Commodore and Sinclair variants back in the 80s. Or even cross the channel and meet those talented French men who still even now find new things to do with the IIGS (hi Antoine!)</p> <p>On our journey, they particularly loved the IIGS in Croatia. Oh yes, they have 'GS' on most of the number plates of the cars residing in Zadar and Plitvice. What more evidence do you need?</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><img title="Croatian Number Plate" src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/Christmas-2010/GS-Number-Plate-1.jpg" alt="Croatian Number Plate" width="339" height="254" />&nbsp;</p> <p class="image left" style="width: 338;"><img title="Croatian Number Plate" src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/Christmas-2010/GS-Number-Plate-2.jpg" alt="Croatian Number Plate" width="338" height="254" /></p> <p class="image left" style="width: 338;">&nbsp;</p> <p class="image left" style="width: 338;">And in Prague, they like their GS's RAW and they're not afraid to wear it as a literal badge of honour. I'm guessing 'RAW' in the sense of the 2.8Mhz, 512k of RAM and no hard drive variety.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p class="image left" style="width: 339;"><img title="IIGS Jacket?" src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/Christmas-2010/GS-Raw.jpg" alt="IIGS Jacket?" width="339" height="254" /></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>But enough of my travels, which have sadly come to end...for the time being. Instead, let's pick up where we left off, by making 2010 the year of manuals! Gust L. Friedemann provided a few manuals as far back as May, so Gust, please accept my apologies for it taking this long for them to appear on the site after your scanning work!</p> <p>So enjoy these manuals, which as usual, can be searched as all text has OCRed:</p> <p><a title="Auto Ark" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/auto-ark/">Auto Ark</a><br /><a title="Cartooners" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/cartooners/">Cartooners</a><br /><a title="Design Your Own Home Interiors" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/dyoh-interiors/">Design Your Own Home Interiors</a><br /><a title="Second Chance" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/second-chance/">Second Chance</a><br /><a title="Softswitch" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/soft-switch/">Softswitch</a><br /><a title="Typeset" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/typeset/">Typeset</a></p> <p>As one last thing I can impart to Apple II users at Christmas, check out my latest <a title="The Perfect GS/OS Desktop" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/the-perfect-gs-os-desktop-picture-or-how-to-get-the-most-of-the-640-x-200-super-hi-res-mode/">blog</a>. Merry Christmas everybody, I hope you enjoy it. I know I am given its the first winter Christmas I've ever experienced!</p> Tue, 21 Dec 2010 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/where-in-the-world-is-alex-lee/ First Round of Updates for 2011! http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/first-round-of-updates-for-201/ <p>I've had an awesome response with submissions since announcing the site would see more updates in 2011. Speaking of updates, if you want to catch-up with all the 2010 news, do so <a title="2010 News" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2010" target="_blank">here</a>. I'll have to get round to creating more obvious buttons on the right hand side of the News for easier access!</p> <p><a href="http://www.apple2gs.oldcomputers.it/">Mauro Rospocher</a>&nbsp;has scanned and uploaded the following games' manuals:</p> <p><a title="GBA Basketball" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/gba-championship-basketball/" target="_blank">GBA Basketball</a><br /><a title="Gnarly Golf" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/gnarly-golf/">Gnarly Golf</a><br /><a title="Jack Nicklaus Greatest 18 Holes of Major Championship Golf" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/jack-nicklaus-greatest-18-holes-of-major-championship-golf/" target="_blank">Jack Nicklaus Greatest 18 Holes of Major Championship Golf</a><br /><a title="Leisure Suit Larry" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/leisure-suit-larry-in-the-land-of-the-lounge-lizards/" target="_blank">Leisure Suit Larry</a><br /><a title="Mean 18" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/mean-18/" target="_blank">Mean 18 Famous Course Disk Reference</a><br /><a title="Tetris" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/tetris/" target="_blank">Tetris</a></p> <p>Keep the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/you-can-help/#manual_scans">manuals coming in</a>&nbsp;everyone!</p> <p>Mauro's also scanned in the box for the <a title="Mean 18" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/mean-18/" target="_blank">Mean 18 Famous Course Disk II</a> - if anyone has Course Disks III and IV, please scan those boxes and send them in as well.</p> <p>Robert Spitz has submitted the driver and utility for the <a title="Applied Ingenuity Inner Drive" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/inner-drive/" target="_blank">Applied Ingenuity Inner Drive</a>, after asking around in order to get his own hardware up and running.</p> <p>Brian Picchi pointed out that First Bytes' <a title="Mad Libs" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/mad-libs/" target="_blank">Mad Libs</a> can't be found anywhere on the site! He's completely right, so I've created an entry for that title including a disk image and screen grab.</p> <p>I just cottoned onto <a title="Rich Dreher's update to the CFFA3000 card" href="http://dreher.net/?s=projects/CFforAppleII&amp;c=projects/CFforAppleII/main.php" target="_blank">Rich Dreher's update to the CFFA3000 card</a> from December 9 2010. Although delayed, it's great it's still moving forward. This is the one piece of hardware I'm looking forward to most...but it'll be sometime before I can use it, being away from my beloved IIGS machines whilst in England.</p> <p>Last but certainly not least, Fran&ccedil;ois Michaud let me know about his amazing catalogued <a title="Apple II collection" href="http://web.mac.com/fmichaud/MA-APDL/Welcome.html" target="_blank">Apple II collection</a>...amongst his even many more Macintosh items. Check it out and be green in envy.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> Tue, 04 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/first-round-of-updates-for-201/ Apple IIGS Emulator for the iPhone and iPad!?! Kinda http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/apple-iigs-emulator-for-the-iphone-and-ipad-kinda/ <p>Wow! Now you can <a title="ActiveGS for iOS" href="http://itunes.apple.com/app/activegs-best-of-fta/id405115025?mt=8" target="_blank">emulate the Apple IIGS on your iPhone or iPad!</a> Get excited, but also realise that currently you can only run FTA software with it. Yes, that's right, all the work Olivier Goguel has been putting into emulating a IIGS through a browser, best demonstrated at <a title="Virtual Apple ][" href="http://www.virtualapple.org/" target="_blank">Virtual Apple ][</a>, is also paying off for use on mobile devices.</p> <p>While it was revealed that Olivier was working on a iOS IIGS emulator solution thanks to <a title="iPad Active GS Footage" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjQedGIfeCQ" target="_blank">footage</a> at the FTA's recent <a title="FTA Wormz Party" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjQedGIfeCQ" target="_blank">FTA Wormz Party</a>, there were many doubts as to how anyone could get past Apple's stringent control checks before allowing apps to appear in the iTunes Store. The Gogs has managed to do it, but in keeping Apple happy, he's only included FTA software with the app.</p> <p>Playing around with the app on my iPhone 3GS, it can keep up with emulating a stock standard IIGS at 2.8Mhz with a minor skip here and there at 20 frames per second. I imagine on an iPad or iPhone 4, emulation speed would never dip and fingers crossed it performs at 60fps. If anyone who regularly commutes, let us know how it affects the battery life of your iOS device running the app.</p> Fri, 25 Feb 2011 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/apple-iigs-emulator-for-the-iphone-and-ipad-kinda/ More Manuals! NiftySpell New Desk Accessory now freeware! http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/more-manuals-niftyspell-new-desk-accessory-now-freeware/ <p>Antoine Vignau continues with scans of all the manuals he has to hand:</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/deskpak/">DeskPak</a>, <a title="Jam Session" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/jam-session/" target="_blank">Jam Session</a>, <a title="Pointless" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/pointless-v2-0/" target="_blank">Pointless</a>, <a title="Salvation Supreme" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/salvation-supreme/" target="_blank">Salvation Supreme</a>, TML Pascal (for <a title="Complete Pascal" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/complete-pascal-was-tml-pascal-/" target="_blank">Complete Pascal</a> - I hope the documentation doesn't vary too wildly between the early and later versions) and <a title="Word Perfect" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/word-perfect/" target="_blank">Word Perfect</a>. If you've got more up to date documentation for Complete Pascal v2.0, or any other manuals not currently on the site please refer to this list and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/you-can-help/#manual_scans">submit them</a>.</p> <p>In a nice surprise to the Apple II community, Ewen Wannop, IIGS communications software developer extraordinaire, has released the NiftySpell New Desk Accessory as freeware. The new package got started when Chris Vavruska, the original author of NiftySpell, asked if support could be included for Ewen's SAM2 Email client for the IIGS. After discovering incompatibilities with SAM2, Ewen disassembled NiftySpell, its source code long lost, fixed the bugs and then released a public domain version that's now better than ever.</p> <p>From <a title="Speccie's Home Page" href="http://www.wannop.info/speccie/index.html" target="_blank">Ewen's site</a>, he's also recently released the HTML Tool Set, a programming library that programmers can use as the engine for a IIGS web browser...interesting! Maybe a IIGS web browser might look something like <a title="Pixelfari" href="http://mrgan.tumblr.com/post/3330188156/pixelfari" target="_blank">this</a>?</p> Wed, 13 Apr 2011 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/more-manuals-niftyspell-new-desk-accessory-now-freeware/ More Lost Software Found! Playwrite: The Talking Puppets http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/more-lost-software-found-playwrite-the-talking-puppets/ <p>Good news everybody!</p> <p>We now have another piece of IIGS software that I found out about in the last 12 months for which we now have a working archive!</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/playwrite-the-talking-puppets/">Playwrite: The Talking Puppets</a>&nbsp;is a sequel of sorts to <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/cartooners/">Cartooners</a>, the animation program specifically for kids. Talking Puppets allows kids as well as the young at heart to create talking dialogue between two characters, setting the scene, costumes and even the tone and pitch of the actors' voices! It's always great finding 'new' software like this, especially when you've got another reason to show off some educational software to the youngins.</p> <p>Thanks go to John Liska and Antoine Vignau (even though no cracking was required this time!) for this rare find. There are still other educational software titles the archive does not yet hold, so be sure to check this <a title="You Can Help!" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/you-can-help/#submit_2image" target="_blank">list</a> and see if you can help.</p> Thu, 16 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/more-lost-software-found-playwrite-the-talking-puppets/ Another Previously Lost Educational Title Found! Talking USA Map http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/another-previously-lost-educational-title-found-talking-usa-map/ <p>A huge thanks goes out to Daniel Kruszyna (who'll be presenting at this year's <a title="KansasFest" href="http://www.kansasfest.org/" target="_blank">KansasFest</a>) for not only being able to make working disk images for <a title="Talking USA Map" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/talking-usa-map/" target="_blank">Talking USA Map</a>, but also for a scan of its box and manual! Fantastic! Another educational title now archived, no longer in danger of being lost forever!</p> <p>This brings the list of IIGS specific educational disk image requests to this shorter list:</p> <p>Talking Academic Quiz Kid, Computer Video Reader: World of Nature - Reading About Animals; Reading About Sharks, Bird Watcher, Inner Body Works, Logic Master.</p> <p>There are also educational hyper/multi-media titles still required too, although they also require a laser disc. Although no form of emulation for the Apple IIGS supports laser disc and the Apple Video Overlay Card (and probably never will), a video capture of the content of the laser discs would be ideal to preserve their content alongside disk images of the actual GS/OS software: GTV: A Geographic Perspective on American History, Science Vision: Astrovision, Science Vision: BioExplorer, Science Vision: Chemical Pursuits, Science Vision: EcoVision, Science Vision: ErgoMotion and Science Vision: TerraVision. Lastly is the IIGS only CD-ROM title that quite possibly wasn't even released: YourWordBox!</p> <p>And in preparation for a big bonus of software soon to be added to 'What is the Apple IIGS?', we're also on the lookout for 8-bit educational software that was released on 3.5" disk. See if you can help with any of the following titles:</p> <p>The Treehouse, Word Attack Plus Vocabulary, Alge Blaster Plus!, Grammar Gremlins, Stickybear Numbers, Stickybear Reading Tutor, Stickybear Spell Grabber. Also, be on the lookout for other Davidson, The Learning Company, Learning Ways Inc., Hartley, Sunburst and Weekly Reader titles.</p> Sun, 03 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/another-previously-lost-educational-title-found-talking-usa-map/ Lots of new Visual Content and More Manuals! http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/lots-of-new-visual-content-and-more-manuals/ <p>Thanks to Fran&ccedil;ois Michaud's&nbsp;<a href="http://web.me.com/fmichaud/MA-APDL/Welcome.html">growing Apple collection</a>, including a sizeable section devoted to Apple's first line of computers, he's been able to scan a lot of missing covers for applications including <a title="AppleLink: The Personal Edition" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/applelink/" target="_blank">AppleLink: The Personal Edition</a>, <a title="Beagle Draw" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/beagle-draw-was-topdraw-/" target="_blank">Beagle Draw</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/gno-me/">GNO/ME</a>, <a title="Micol Advanced BASIC" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/micol-advanced-basic/" target="_blank">Micol Advanced BASIC</a>, <a title="FAXination" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/faxination/" target="_blank">FAXination</a>, <a title="Express" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/express-v2-1/" target="_blank">Express</a> and <a title="DeskPak" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/deskpak/" target="_blank">DeskPak</a>. Additionally, he's also contributed manuals for&nbsp;<a title="Express" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/express-v2-1/" target="_blank">Express</a>,&nbsp;<a title="FAXination" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/faxination/" target="_blank">FAXination</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/firepower/">Firepower</a>.</p> <p>I've also included a manual and cover scan for&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/flash-boot/">Flashboot</a>&nbsp;(courtesy of Wayne Stewart, although I'd had this for a while!) as well as a cover scan for&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/deluxe-paint-ii/">Deluxe Paint II Arts Parts Volume 2</a>&nbsp;(thanks to Antoine Vignau). Detlef Kahner has also helped out by submitting the manual for&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/chess-master-2100/">Chess Master 2100</a>.</p> <p>As always, please check the list for&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/you-can-help/#box_scans">box scans</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/you-can-help/#manual_scans">manuals</a>&nbsp;we still need to complete the archive here at 'What is the Apple IIGS?'. I've been recently writing the text for the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/the-book-of-the-website/">coffee table book</a>&nbsp;and in these days of the Apple App Store, Android Market and other online venues to get your software, it's becoming clearer just how important it is that we record ANY history of how software used to be obtained...and there's no better way to do this than by scanning the packaging of software from the past. Consider: with the future of the digital age sprawling wider and further in front of us - there will be but a small period of time in which people went to physical stores and bought tangible media from which to run or install their software. Those days will soon be forgotten unless this is all recorded.</p> <p>So spread the word if you're one of the lucky ones attending&nbsp;<a href="http://www.kansasfest.org/">KansasFest</a>&nbsp;next week, or if you'll be at home during the event, why not delve into your collection and add to history? Contributions are always credited (unless you wish to remain anonymous) and will appear online and within the coffee table book. As for the book...no, I still can't give a release date yet!</p> <p>There's also a&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/you-can-help/#disk_label_scans">NEW category</a>&nbsp;for which you can contribute. Before leaving Australia I scanned almost all of my original 3.5" disks (OK, so I missed a few in my rush to reach the plane before it took off) and as it turns out, Antoine's also been scanning his disks...and Fran&ccedil;ois as well. Between the three of us, we've got well over half of all game and application disks and a good start to educational software. If you've got any original disks with their labels intact, check the list and read the step by step guide as to how to get the best possible quality scans.</p> Tue, 12 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/lots-of-new-visual-content-and-more-manuals/ 8-bit Software Available on 3.5" Disk http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/8-bit-software-available-on-3-5-disk/ <p>There's now a hell of a lot more software on 'What is the Apple IIGS?'. Strictly speaking, it's not Apple IIGS specific software, but 8-bit software that will run on the IIe, IIc and IIc+, but it IS on 3.5" disks, which has the convenience of no disk swapping, faster disk access, 3.5" disks are easier to come by than 5.25" disks and many of these programs are hard drive installable and even System 6 compatible.</p> <p>This new section of the archive is very much a work in progress and at the moment only covers games and educational software...but there's a huge first haul to be had between these two new categories. Currently, you can only access them via these links, as I haven't even had time to update the pull down menus of the masthead navigation.</p> <p>For 8-bit Educational programs available on 3.5" disk go&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/8-bit-educational-on-3-5-disk/">here</a>.</p> <p>For 8-bit games on 3.5" disk&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/8-bit-games-on-3-5-disk/">look no further</a>.</p> <p>As usual, I ask everyone to have a look at these new sections, see what's missing in terms of disk images, cover scans, manuals and disk labels and&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/you-can-help/">help where you can</a>&nbsp;by checking what you have in your own collections.</p> <p>And for all of you at KansasFest, keep an eye for these items at the Garage Sale! ;-) A big thanks to Antoine Vignau for providing cover and manual scans for The Whole Neighbourhood and Read n Roll, as well disk images for The Whole Neighborhood and Story Starters: Science. Rare titles indeed.</p> Tue, 19 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/8-bit-software-available-on-3-5-disk/ GSTape! Alge Blaster Plus! Sweet 16 v2.3.1! Lots more manuals! http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/gstape-alge-blaster-plus-sweet-16-v2-3-1-lots-more-manuals/ <p>We've got more goodies to fill out the archive quite nicely this month.</p> <p>Antoine Vignau, busy as ever, has provided a working archive and complete documentation to one very rare utility:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/gstape/">GSTape</a>, which allows you to back-up to tape drives via SCSI on the IIGS (see docs for what SCSI cards and tape drives can be used). Also adding to utilities, are&nbsp;<a title="So What Software's batch of little useful programs" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/so-what-software-utilities/" target="_blank">So What Software's batch of little useful programs</a>: DiskTimer v2.1 (for benchmarking performance of IIGS hard drives), SCSI Hacker (for those who want to mess with SCSI configurations at a low level), Screen Thief (for screen capture, similar to Ninja Force's Picture Ripper) and Menu Maker, for use with their&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/iconix/">Iconix</a>&nbsp;BASIC extender.</p> <p>Additionally, Antoine's also sent along <a title="Simon Says" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/simon-says/" target="_blank">Simon Says</a> and <a title="Women in History" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/women-in-history/" target="_blank">Women in History</a>, both with their accompanying documentation, adding to the new category of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/8-bit-educational-on-3-5-disk/">8-bit educational software on 3.5" disk</a>.</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/bouncing-bluster-ii/"></a>Not only that, but if you can handle a little French (or let Google translator handle it for you) Antoine's also scanned in the manuals for the following titles: <a title="Bouncing Bluster II" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/bouncing-bluster-ii/" target="_blank">Bouncing Bluster II</a>, <a title="Full Metal Planete" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/full-metal-planete/" target="_blank">Full Metal Planete</a> and <a title="Photonix II" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/photonix-2-3/" target="_blank">Photonix II</a>.</p> <p>He's also provided the docs and a packaging scan for <a title="Call Box" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/call-box-v2-0/" target="_blank">Call Box</a>, the programming framework that allows you to tie together BASIC programming with the IIGS toolbox and also for <a title="Prism" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/prism/" target="_blank">Prism</a>, the graphics conversion app. Last but not least, Antoine's also scanned complete documentation to <a title="Talking Math and Me" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/math-and-me/" target="_blank">Talking Math and Me</a>.</p> <p>Antoine's also done some digging about what the fate of <a title="Ultima VI" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/ultima-vi/" target="_blank">Ultima VI</a> on the Apple II was, or more specifically, was a IIGS version really in the pipeline? As always, if anyone has additional info regarding <a title="unreleased software" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/unreleased-games/" target="_blank">unreleased software</a>, be sure to write in so we can set the story straight...and relax in the knowledge that there's nothing to actually pursue in regards to disk images!</p> <p>Daniel Kruszyna has been able to supply a disk image for <a title="Alge Blaster Plus!" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/alge-blaster-plus/" target="_blank">Alge Blaster Plus!</a> from his original copy and Antoine has been able to crack it! Keep these Davidson releases coming in people! It's strange to think that such classic software for the Apple II such as these haven't been archived before now!</p> <p>That's it for content additions, for now anyway.</p> <p><a href="http://www.kansasfest.org/">KansasFest</a>&nbsp;is over for another year, and I'm typically late in reporting anything about it. Some highlights of the event include the release of version 2.3.1 of <a title="Sweet 16" href="http://www.sheppyware.net/software-mac/sweet16/" target="_blank">Sweet 16</a>, the IIGS emulator for Mac OS X 10.5 and higher, its greatest benefit being that it no longer freezes when playing back SynthLab or Diversi-Tune music.</p> <p>Also, some new hardware was previewed: The long awaited <a title="CFFA 3000 card" href="http://dreher.net/?s=projects/CFforAppleII&amp;c=projects/CFforAppleII/main.php" target="_blank">CFFA 3000 card</a>, which works not only as a solid state hard drive like the CFFA cards before it, but also as a virtual floppy drive where you 'insert' disk images from a handy USB stick, was available for pre-order...was being the operative word. 300 cards were produced and already, 300 cards have been pre-ordered! Rich is considering another run in 6 to 12 months time. I myself have pre-ordered a card, even though I won't have access to it until I return to Australia late in 2012! It really will be one of the most convenient additions to a IIGS or IIe, eliminating the need to use and wait for floppies! If you missed out, let Rich Dreher know you're interested by sending an <a title="CFFA Run #2 Interest" href="mailto:rich@dreher.net">email</a>.</p> <p>But that's not all: Vince Briel, another hardware developer extraordinaire, has developed the <a title="A2MP3" href="http://www.brielcomputers.com/wordpress/?cat=14" target="_blank">A2MP3</a>, a card that will play MP3s from a USB stick and be controllable from your Apple II! Sheppy is hoping to develop a IIGS New Desk Accessory, so you can play your tunes as you work in GS/OS, but in the meantime, control can be had with any model of Apple II. I love the concept, that the Apple II is simply a 'front-end' for such a sophisticated device (at least in relation to the Apple II) and wonder what else could be achieved with new hardware in this fashion? Perhaps another revision would be to include an antenna that could pick up digital radio?</p> Sun, 04 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/gstape-alge-blaster-plus-sweet-16-v2-3-1-lots-more-manuals/ Even More Content Added! Sesame Street Learning Library & Disk Access II http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/even-more-content-added-sesame-street-learning-library-disk-access-ii/ <p>Fran&ccedil;ois Michaud's began the next round of content updates to the site by submitting manuals for&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/king-of-chicago/">The King of Chicago</a>&nbsp;(with some good hints and tips as to how to complete the game, which I never have) and&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/font-factory-v2-0/">Font Factory</a>&nbsp;(the comprehensive font creation and editing program from Seven Hills Software) as well as an alternate manual scan for screensaver extraordinaire&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/twilight-ii-v1-1/">Twilight II</a>, which has made for a good cover scan.</p> <p>Antoine, never to be out-done of course, has shot through some more material as well: manuals for <a title="Chess Master 2100" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/chess-master-2100/" target="_blank">Chess Master 2100</a> (specifically, the IIGS reference card), <a title="Instant Synthesizer" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/instant-synthesizer/" target="_blank">Instant Synthesizer</a>, <a title="Master Tracks Pro" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/master-tracks-pro/" target="_blank">Master Tracks Pro</a>, <a title="Second Chance" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/second-chance/" target="_blank">Second Chance</a>, <a title="So What Software Utilities" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/so-what-software-utilities/" target="_blank">So What Software Utilities</a>&nbsp;and <a title="Universe Master" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/universe-master/" target="_blank">Universe Master</a>. In addition to the documentation to <a title="Second Chance" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/second-chance/" target="_blank">Second Chance</a>, Antoine's also found version 2.0 of the program, now included in the archive. It's an interesting program &ndash; the beginnings of something like Adobe Photoshop for the IIGS! Additionally, Antoine's also been able to provide version 1.0.2 of <a title="Universe_Master" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/universe-master/" target="_blank">Universe Master</a>, newer than the v1.0.1 the archive previously held.</p> <p>A recent&nbsp;trans-world&nbsp;effort to help catalogue and archive more Apple II software between myself, Antoine and Bill Martens of <a title="Call A.P.P.L.E." href="http://www.callapple.org/" target="_blank">Call A.P.P.L.E.</a> has yielded some early fruit in the form of several disk images: <a title="Disk Access II" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/disk-access/" target="_blank">Disk Access II</a> (a new desk accessory that enables file management from any standard GS/OS program) and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/sesame-street-learning-library-volume/">Sesame Street Learning Library Vol 1</a>&nbsp;(a nice addition to <a title="educational 8-bit Apple II software on 3.5&quot; disk" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/8-bit-educational-on-3-5-disk/" target="_blank">educational 8-bit Apple II software on 3.5" disk</a>). Additionally, a new version of <a title="Speller Bee" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/speller-bee/" target="_blank">Speller Bee</a> (v2) has been found and added to the archive. Again, this shows that many programs received newer iterations and that sometimes obtaining the 'same' software again reveals nice surprises like newer versions.</p> Wed, 28 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/even-more-content-added-sesame-street-learning-library-disk-access-ii/ Steve Jobs 1955 – 2011 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/steve-jobs-1955-201/ <p>As tributes to the co-founder of Apple continue to pour in, I thought I'd make a contribution.</p> <p>Although Steve Jobs didn't have any direct influence on the Apple IIGS, his focus having been the Macintosh up until his well publicised ousting and resignation in 1985, our favourite Apple II still owes much to Jobs.</p> <p>Obviously, it was Jobs and Woz who saw the original Apple II and the company itself to fruition in 1977. But one of the real flourishes of the IIGS can be attributed to one of Jobs actions in 1982, bringing in Frog Design, a European industrial design group whose modern style was exactly the attention to detail Jobs was looking for in creating &lsquo;insanely great' products. Creating a range of studies as to how the future of computers might look, including tablets, the &lsquo;Snow White' design language evolved and first was used on the Apple IIc. The IIGS was next to receive this styling, although substituting the white of the IIc with the neutral but warm &lsquo;platinum' colour, which would remain with the Macintosh until the release of the iMac. The look of the IIGS was finalised by its unique hammerhead shark design with detached keyboard.</p> <p>The other major benefit to the IIGS that derived from Jobs and the work of the Macintosh team was of course the graphical user interface they developed, now rendered in colour for the first time on the IIGS, as well as the toolbox, which allowed developers easy ways to take advantage of the GUI.</p> <p>On a personal note, I've found it hard not to feel admiration for Jobs. We should never forget that Jobs has worked with incredible collaborators, from Steven Wozniak to Jonathan Ive and without them Apple would not have flourished. But what Jobs has done in his career is quite remarkable and why he is credited as a huge influence in the way technology has developed is well deserved.</p> <p>It's certainly been true that Jobs' passing has made for some interesting discussion as to his merits or otherwise. The interesting thing is that if Jobs were still alive to read what everyone was saying about him, I doubt he'd care anyway. You can't make everybody happy, and this certainly is true of his customers and the people he worked with. But his unflinching focus remained on wanting to see computer products that would be smaller, easier to use and reveal more and more uses for everyday life certainly has changed technology for the better, allowing a much wider and broader audience to enjoy the possibilities of a digital world.</p> <p>I think he needs to be more recognised for being able to cut through the bullshit of people in suits: of striving to bring better products to market instead of playing things safe, yet still playing within the rules and making deals with the music, film and software industries. It's a far more reaching and holistic view of designing products and the end result is and has been that Apple has always made more interesting products than its competitors and that's what the praise for Jobs should really be about. It's a hell of a legacy.</p> <p>On another personal note, Jobs lost his life to pancreatic cancer, which was how my family lost our mother a little over 2 years ago. It is one of the most insidious forms of cancer and my heart goes out to all those who knew Steve personally.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> Mon, 10 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/steve-jobs-1955-201/ Hard Drive Image Revisions & More Content Updates http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/hard-drive-image-revisions-more-content-updates/ <p>I've been constantly revising my 32 meg hard drive images which can provide a quick setup of a virtual or real IIGS with compact flash based storage. The updates include newer versions of software and adding new ones, including more icons, cleaning up directories, colouring folders (red indicates it does not run from System 6 or isn't hard drive installable. The results are now available from the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/home/">home page</a>&nbsp;of 'What is the Apple IIGS?'. It should be the quickest way anyone even vaguely curious about the IIGS can quickly see what the machine can do.</p> <p>In the quest to find every obscure IIGS piece of software ever made, feel free to <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/submit-2image-archive/">submit your own hard drive images</a>&nbsp;if they're loaded with apps (as long as they're apps no longer being sold), games (we just might find another hard drive installable version that the archive doesn't currently hold), and anything else that may be on them (graphics, sounds, etc). The older these old partitions, the better &ndash; any random setup may just hold a few gems not already archived.</p> <p>Dave Touvell has submitted some awesome updates. Firstly, the archive now has the last revision of <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/hyperstudio-3-1/">Hyper Studio</a>, version 3.1j. I couldn't find any details as to what's different between the older 'g' version held in the archive, but it's nice to know we now have the last iteration of bug fixes and features ever for the popular hypermedia program. Also, Dave has sent an official hard drive installable version of the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/print-shop-the/">Print Shop IIGS</a>, including a scan of an addendum that specifically refers to the removal of copy protection in version 1.1. In additon, Dave's scanned the docs for the Graphic Library Special Edition that came bundled with many copies of Print Shop IIGS (not mine, unfortunately!). Last but not least, Dave's also included an addition to the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/graphic-exchange-the/">Graphic Exchange</a>&nbsp;&ndash; originally the program included a Mac HFS formatted disk with utilities and some sample images to convert to the IIGS. This is now included in the archive, although because it's formatted in HFS, it's a Macintosh Disk Copy format disk image, which will probably only work with emulators Sweet 16 and Bernie ][ the Rescue.</p> <p>I've recently also added the very excellent <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/script-central/">Script Central</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/stack-central-and-studio-city/">Stack Central/Studio City</a>&nbsp;collections for HyperCard IIGS and Hyper Studio respectively. <a href="http://a2central.com/2632/resource-central-catalog-reclassified-under-creative-commons/">A2 Central reported</a>&nbsp;they were now available via a Creative Commons license back in 2010, so I've added them both to the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/hypermedia-applications/">hypermedia</a>&nbsp;section of the archive.</p> <p>In other news, I was overjoyed to read that the Apple IIGS version of <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/rastan/">Rastan</a>&nbsp;was decided to be the best home conversion of the arcade title in <a href="http://www.retrogamer.net/back_issues.php">issue 91 of Retro Gamer Magazine</a>, outdoing all other home computing platforms and console versions!</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> Tue, 18 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/hard-drive-image-revisions-more-content-updates/ Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year...no, for 2011 of course! http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/merry-christmas-and-a-happy-new-year-no-for-2011-of-course/ <p>Well, it WAS that time of year again.&nbsp;You know, Christmas.</p> <p>But I've been so busy with my new job in the UK and in the lead-up to Christmas, had no time to prepare my usual Christmas cheer!</p> <p>But fear not, although you've already put away the Christmas tree, here are some things you could have put under it:</p> <p><a href="http://web.me.com/fmichaud/MA-APDL/Welcome.html">Fran&ccedil;ois Michaud</a>, whom I had the pleasure of meeting last November, has contributed a few scans from his amazing collection (maybe I'll see it one day!): <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/shadowdial/">ShadowDial</a>&nbsp;(now we just need a disk image for this rare IIGS communications program), <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/show-off-/">Show Off</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/life-and-death/">Life and Death IIGS Reference</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/mcgee/">McGee Reference</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/balance-of-power-1990/">Balance of Power IIGS Reference Cards</a>.</p> <p>For another round of treats for which I can claim no responsibility for, subscribe to <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/BrianPicchi?blend=1&amp;ob=video-mustangbase">Brian Picchi's YouTube channel</a>, predominantly featuring Apple IIGS game reviews, but some other great Apple II tidbits as well. Speaking of which, if you're more into 8-bit Apple II stuff, then check out&nbsp;<a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/Highretrogamelord89?blend=1&amp;ob=video-mustangbase">Highretrogamelord89's channel</a>&nbsp;for some great overviews of Apple gaming goodness.</p> <p>Another gem I've recently found comes by way of <a href="http://www.apple-iigs.info">Arnaud Brossard</a>. He's managed to secure what is surely one of the very first CD-ROMs dedicated to the Apple II and released in 1990 -&nbsp;<a href="http://www.apple-iigs.info/logicielsgemcd.php">GEM (the Generous Efforts of Many)</a>&nbsp;which was a comprehensive collection of freeware and shareware up to that point, and released in a very professionally put together package. I always love going through archives like this, as there's bound to be a few finds that haven't appeared on other archives. Sure enough, it's revealed a few more shareware games, which I have placed on my <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/harddrive_image.zip">System 6 with free games image</a>&nbsp;and the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/Sports_and_Unreleased_Games.zip">Sports &amp; Unreleased Games image</a>&nbsp;(which also includes shareware games).</p> <p>Additionally, I've scanned through the NDAs, CDAs, INITS and icons of the GEM disc and included whatever wasn't included in my own <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/System_Addons.zip">System Extensions collection</a>, including:</p> <p>Xordan BiClock (Human and Alien Clock)<br />Crayon (change desktop colours)<br />Dates v1.1 by Joel A. Quejada<br />File Info by Steven White<br />Palette Puller by Ed Robisheaux</p> <p>FixColour CDA (which prevents black and white Apple II desktop programs (like MouseDesk, Publish It!, Springboard Publisher, etc) from going into colour after visiting the classic control panel.</p> <p>DeskTop Mod INIT by CK Haun <br />Dr Daily INIT by Guy T Rice (virus checker)</p> <p>But surely the best Christmas gift we could have ever hoped to receive has come from Stephan Kleinert, who, to appease his girlfriend due to the growing size of his vintage Apple computer collection, has written a brand new game for the IIGS to keep her, and now us, amused! The name of the game is Mitosis, a clone of the existing game Ataxx, a 2 player strategy puzzle game that features cute graphics and sound wrapped in a nice simple interface that follows Apple's standard GUI.</p> <p>The only (minor) problem with the game is when you quit -&nbsp;it crashes the system. Stephan has been unable to figure out what's causing it and so has included the source code along with the application. If anyone can make any suggestions, it would be most welcome. Hey, we might even turn Stephan away from developing on the Mac and iOS and to make IIGS toolbox programming his full-time ambition if we can solve this ;-)</p> <p>You can also find Mitosis on the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/harddrive_image.zip">System 6 image with shareware and freeware games</a>.</p> <p>My new year's resolution is to finish collecting every piece of commercial Apple IIGS software and even every 8-bit educational and gaming software for 2012. Hope <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/you-can-help/">you can help</a>&nbsp;;-)</p> <p>Oh, and as with last year, you'll notice all the news items from the last couple of years are no longer accessible. However, that's not quite true, although I don't have an elegant solution to present news from 2011 and 2010 at the moment. The alternative is this: Click on the 'NEWS ARCHIVE 2009' button in the right hand column. Then, go to the URL bar. Notice that it's 'http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2009'. Swap '2009' for '2010' or '2011' and you'll have access to those years worth of news again.</p> Sun, 08 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/merry-christmas-and-a-happy-new-year-no-for-2011-of-course/ (Fashionably Late) Easter Updates http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/fashionably-late-easter-updates/ <p>Apologies to everyone for not getting these updates out sooner (particularly to those who contributed), but at last, What is the Apple IIGS? has some new content! Andrew Roughan has submitted the following manual scans:</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/balloon-v2-0/">Balloon</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/gsnumerics/">GSNumerics</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/kangaroo-v1-3/">Kangaroo</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/ram-gs/">RAMGS</a>. Big thanks!</p> <p>Fran&ccedil;ois has sent in scans for <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/my-paint/">My Paint</a>&nbsp;IIGS reference cards and a nice box scan to replace my original manual cover which I tried to pass off as the box! Hopefully we'll be able to make a working disk image of his version 2.0 copy.</p> <p>Speaking of which, between Fran&ccedil;ois and Antoine, they&rsquo;ve been able to produce a disk image for <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/shadowdial/">Shadow Dial</a>&nbsp;&ndash; all those in France, be sure to play with it &ndash; you&rsquo;ve only got until the end of April when the MiniTel service finally closes down. Be sure to take a few screen grabs with Shadow Dial so we know how it looked on the IIGS!</p> <p>The most exotic find this month has to go to&nbsp;Mauro Rospocher. He's come into the possession of a fairly rare card for the Apple IIGS (and II, II+ and IIe) called the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/floating-point-engine/">Floating Point Engine</a>. Combined with the drivers, this card will boost GS/OS applications by way of a maths co-processor. An image of the card, the software necessary to use it and the manual have all been included on a new archive dedicated to this piece of hardware.</p> <p>Oh, and just a little specific request &ndash; if anyone has Nibble issues&nbsp;April 1987 and&nbsp;October 1987, could they <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/you-can-help/#box_scans">scan the covers</a>&nbsp;please? I realise Nibble can be bought from the original publisher Mike Harvey, however, I am compiling a complete cover scan collection that will be very high resoluton and retouched to maximise quality.</p> Sat, 14 Apr 2012 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/fashionably-late-easter-updates/ IIGS News Summary http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/iigs-news-summary/ <p>What's been going on in the Apple IIGS world?</p> <p>Well, here on the site, if you follow the forums, you'll see a request was made by <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/games-forum/show/452#post452">cbee</a>&nbsp;as to locating two of John Carmack's earliest games, released for the Apple II. John Carmack is of course famous for programming Commander Keen, Wolf3D, Doom, the Quake games and most recently, Rage. The games in question are <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/shadowforge/">Shadowforge</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/wraith/">Wraith: The Devil's Demise</a>&nbsp;and they are now included in the beta section of <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/8-bit-games-on-3-5-disk/">8-bit Apple II games on 3.5 disk</a>.</p> <p>Speaking of John Carmack's early efforts on the Apple II, another source of his work can also be found in Softdisk and Softdisk GS collections, original monthly on-disk publications, where the Dark Dimensions and Catacombs series of games similar to Shadowforge and Wraith made their debut, are now no longer available. Apparently another party has since bought the rights to the entire back catalogue to Softdisk Publishing, and there's been no word on re-releasing the Softdisk collections on CD-ROM as Syndicomm had done up to a year ago before their license expired.</p> <p>In news away from this site (and there's been plenty of it) Ewen Wannop has created a <a href="http://www.wannop.info/speccie/index.html">Sweet 16 starter kit</a>&nbsp;in the form of a customised 32meg 2image for the OS X emulator. It's a self booting image that loads up System 6.0.1, Marinetti, the TCP stack that allows a IIGS to connect to the internet (and with a specific link-layer, enabling you to do this all from Sweet 16). Also on the 2image are Ewen's unique GS/OS apps for handling email (SAM2), Usenet (SNAP) and FTP (SAFE2). The last is particularly useful, as not only can you access FTP sites like <a href="ftp://ftp.apple.asimov.net">Asimov</a>&nbsp;and the <a href="ftp://ftp.gno.org/pub/apple2">GNO Archive</a>, but you can also access the boot volume of you Mac...handy, because now you can easily transfer files to AND from your virtual IIGS to OS X. This is a most welcome solution, as since OS X Lion, Apple removed Rosetta and with it, the ability to use the ageing <a href="http://www.lazilong.com/apple_II/adfs">ADFS</a>&nbsp;program for transferring files to and from 2image archives. I plan on upgrading to Mountain Lion from Snow Leopard soon and I can relax in the comfort that this gives me in that I'll still be able to add files to 2images.</p> <p>Which is a great segue to introduce Brutal Deluxe's <a href="http://www.brutaldeluxe.fr/products/crossdevtools/cadius/">CADIUS</a>. The first release of an effort by Brutal Deluxe to create great cross platform development tools for IIGS software (and hinted at by Olivier Zardini in the comments section of a <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/for-home-brew-just-add-hops-skips-jumps-blood-sweat-tears/#PageComments_holder">blog article</a>&nbsp;I wrote about the state of software development for the IIGS) this software enables a command line interface for handling disk images. But more than that, it allows control over text file formats (cleaning the high-bit) as well as the precious handling of resource forked files, which both the IIGS and Mac use, but become corrupted on any Windows volumes. Stay tuned for more.</p> <p>Dr Ken Franklin got in touch with me earlier this year and let me know that <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/plunder/">Plunder</a>, which is one of my all time favourite IIGS games, is set to become a board game! Look forward to that! I think it would also make a great iOS game, or even a Facebook game, given its turn based nature.</p> <p>David Finnigan has released a book called &lsquo;<a href="http://macgui.com/newa2guide/">The New Apple II User's Guide</a>' -&nbsp;it covers the advances made to the II series since its heyday, as well as getting anyone up to speed on how to use any Apple II. And Steve Weyrich is now in the process of creating a book based on the many years of research and revision of his <a href="http://apple2history.org/">Apple II history</a>. I'm envious that others are getting on top of their Apple II publishing projects!</p> <p>In defence of the tardiness of <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/the-book-of-the-website/">my own book</a>, there are two primary factors:</p> <p>1) Life getting in the way. Those I've been in touch with the most over the last two years will know I quit my long term job in Melbourne, Australia, saw a LOT of Europe in 2010, have worked in many contract jobs in London for the last 18 months, and in between bouts of unemployment, continued to add content to this site and work quietly on the book in the meantime. I'm about to embark of the next leg of my adventure with my girlfriend Bronwen - to take in the parts of Europe we didn't have enough time to see 2 years ago and actually revisit a couple of spots we adored, including Croatia, Slovenia, Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia and via the trans-Siberian railway, China, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Singapore.</p> <p>2) My own surprise at learning things about the IIGS I never previously knew. As I'm continually delighted by researching every piece of software, publication and hardware I sift, discovering more than I ever knew, I hope I can re-create the same wonder in anyone who's interested in the IIGS and a visual history dedicated to it.</p> <p>And the folks running <a href="http://www.kansasfest.org/">KansasFest</a>&nbsp;are once again preparing for another onslaught of geek heaven. If you love the Apple II and can make it to Kansas City July 17 to 22, do it!</p> <p>Oh yeah, it was the 35th Anniversary of the Apple II in June, and apparently when the two Steves decided to create Apple Computer Inc, as well as the iPhone's 5th anniversary. Time flies...just hope we're still having fun!</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> Sun, 01 Jul 2012 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/iigs-news-summary/ Major Update to System Add-ons http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/major-update-to-system-add-ons/ <p>This is easily the biggest update to the System Add-ons 32 meg volume. Apart from the new additions listed below, some duplicates have been removed, others put into more suitable categories:</p> <p><img class="left" style="border: 0px initial initial;" title="null" src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/Uploads/_resampled/ResizedImage1515-icdisc.gif" alt="" hspace="null" vspace="null" width="15" height="15" align="null" />&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/System_Addons.zip">System Add-ons</a>&nbsp;(~12.5meg)</p> <p>Most notably, added software from <a href="http://www.weygants.net/~apulver/a2software.html">Aaron Pulver</a>&nbsp;&mdash; there's some very cool stuff here! Firstly, there's the NetTime CDev. This nifty control panel will enable you to sync to a time server (if you've got an Uthernet or LANCGS ethernet card and Marinetti installed), which helps allay the problem of incorrect time on your IIGS if your Battery RAM (BRAM) is dead (short of you having to manually update the time).</p> <p>Another gem is Aaron's Address Book NDA. This little beauty includes cellular/mobile phone and email fields, something no other address book NDA does on the IIGS.</p> <p>What's better still is that I recently got in touch with Aaron to ask for permission to include these system add-ons (along with Bisquit INIT, Freek NDA, Second Sight Toggle CDA) for Aaron was happy and also alluded that he's returning to IIGS programming to improve these system extras -&nbsp;hopefully to enable NetTime to be automatic on start-up (which in league with other BRAM system extensions, would negate the need for replacing your IIGS' BRAM!) and getting Address Book v1.0 final. Look forward to those updates!</p> <p>And there's lots of miscellaneous new additions:</p> <p><strong>Finder Extras (FExts)</strong></p> <p>v1.0.1 updates to Chris Vavruksa's Finder Extras: CD Remember (a cool utility that remembers open Finder windows from write protected volumes (like CDs) when you return to the Finder after checking out an app, as well as Finder Refresher (redraws Finder windows) and Work Sets (which allows you to record a bunch of folders to open in the Finder at once).</p> <p>rPacker Finder Extension by Brian D. Wells. An interesting Finder extension that saves drive space (and possibly load times) by deleting empty or placeholder resources. Back up your data (as the docs say) and give it a go -&nbsp;it might enhance the performance of System 6 on your IIGS. It doesn't seem to work with Sweet 16 however -&nbsp;using the same System 6 install I put rPacker on, it works fine with ActiveGS, but crashes the system on Sweet 16. When it works, I managed to save 62k of data running it through my System 6 install with shareware and freeware games. Not bad. Although I only scrounged 2.5k from the Action games volume.</p> <p>Also from Brian is Fix Finder Windows. It's a patch that apparently fixes the &lsquo;About', &lsquo;Help' and &lsquo;Preferences' windows and dialogue, although I can't fathom exactly what the problem is. I'll be trying this one time patch out regardless. Perhaps GUPP (the Grand Unified Patch by Nathan Mates) fixes the problem? It's included for completeness and is in the Patches folder.</p> <p>Teach Reader Finder Extra by Jupiter Systems/Chris Trimble has been updated to v1.01, including several bug fixes.</p> <p>Newer version (v2.0) of DiskOpen Finder Extra by Greg Betzel.</p> <p>rBundle Banger FExt by Clayburn W. Juniel III. In the spirit of improving resources, rBundle Banger helps sort which filetypes are linked to what application you want opening them.</p> <p><strong>NDAs:</strong></p> <p>AZERTY NDA by Huibert Aalbars -&nbsp;for AZERTY keyboards, obviously, but not sure if it's needed for System 5 and up.</p> <p>BRAM Detect NDA by ?, complete with source code.</p> <p>A time waster NDA -&nbsp;Bugs by ?</p> <p>RAMDisk Manager Demo NDA -&nbsp;only a demo, but purports to speed up RAM disk 3 times faster.</p> <p>Minehunt NDA game by Nathan Mates.</p> <p>Accessory Chooser by Alberto Paglino is yet another NDA to load other desk accessories.</p> <p><strong>CDAs</strong></p> <p>AE RAMKeeper CDA -&nbsp;should provide useful utilities for those with these cards.</p> <p>Switch Control Panel CDA by Tim Grams. Not sure what this does, but for use with the IIGS control panel and ProDOS 8 apps.</p> <p>Nexus by Tony Morales -&nbsp;adds commands to NiftyList.</p> <p>There's a CDA that unmounts Appleshare volumes. No docs included.</p> <p>BASIC Errors CDA by John Link</p> <p>CDA Term by Guy T Rice now includes all docs and source.</p> <p><strong>CDevs</strong></p> <p>TWGS Reporter by John Link, another CDEV that provides info on your TranswarpGS, which I haven't been able to test without access to a TWGS. It may only work with System 5.0.2 as well. Can't imagine it would hurt too much if you gave it a go with System 6.0.1.</p> <p>Font Editing:</p> <p>Newer version of Font Edit (v2.01) with docs. and Font Scan v0.5.</p> <p>Newer version of Font Doctor (now v1.0b11 over v1.0b9)</p> <p><strong>Patches</strong></p> <p>SF Fix -&nbsp;an init that fixes a bug specifically with System 5.0.4 and prefix #8 when returning from ProDOS 8 programs -&nbsp;never encountered this bug myself.</p> <p>Le Fix -&nbsp;an init that fixes potential crashes caused by programs that incorrectly setup the line edit toolset incorrectly, apparently TML Systems' demos are the main offender.</p> <p>Nicon patch by Jeff Dickson allows you to decide if startup icons for CDevs and Finder Extras appear at boot time. Useful for limiting the number of icons appearing when System 6 boots.</p> <p><strong>INITS</strong></p> <p>Ultra Blanker v2.06 by Robert S Claney is now included, but v2.0 is still included, as that still allows it to be run from System 5.0.4.</p> <p>OnHold INIT by James Stanford that replaces the usual wristwatch waiting cursor with a spinning beachball (which is actually the last thing I'd like see whilst emulating a IIGS under OS X!).</p> <p>Some new random Icons:</p> <p>SoundSmith<br />Mean 18<br />Music<br />Gazelle</p> <p><strong>And even a couple of new finds for shareware/freeware games:</strong></p> <p>Let it Ride Texas Hold-em Poker game by Thad T. Taylor (a bit rough around the edges, but enjoy)</p> <p>Battleship by Chad Faragher and Jim Gauld (I remember liking this back in the day, but it doesn't seem to let you quit!)</p> <p><span>These new additions are actually on the&nbsp;</span><img class="left" style="border: 0px initial initial;" title="null" src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/Uploads/_resampled/ResizedImage1515-icdisc.gif" alt="" hspace="null" vspace="null" width="15" height="15" align="null" />&nbsp;<a title="Sports and Unreleased Games" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/Sports_and_Unreleased_Games.zip">Sports &amp; Unreleased Games</a>&nbsp;(~13.9 meg)<span>&nbsp;as there's no more space on the&nbsp;</span><img class="left" style="border: 0px initial initial;" title="null" src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/Uploads/_resampled/ResizedImage1515-icdisc.gif" alt="" hspace="null" vspace="null" width="15" height="15" align="null" />&nbsp;<a title="System 6.0.1 Hard Drive Image" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/harddrive_image.zip">System 6.0.1 Hard Drive Image</a>&nbsp;(~13.3meg)<span>&nbsp;volume!</span></p> <p><span>As always, Antoine Vignau is to thank for a lot of this stuff (especially from his recently re-released <a href="http://www.brutaldeluxe.fr/products/apple2gs/deluxeware/index.html">DeluxeWare CD-ROM</a>). I hate that guy. He's the nicest guy and the most amazingly talented programmer and cracker you could ever hope to get encouragement and aid from! ;-)</span></p> <p><strong>Wishlist</strong></p> <p>Even after all this time and existing software, there are still some system extensions I'd like to see on the IIGS.</p> <p>1) AutoMenus, but configurable so you need a single click to pull down menus (currently, existing AutoMenus versions simply reveal the pull down menu if you mouse over them). With a click, this would mirror the convenience of Windows and OS X.</p> <p>2) I'd love to see a Finder Extra that simply added the ability to restart the IIGS, changing the boot scan slot to 5 or 6. This is a feature that was included in MouseDesk, as well as Instant Access, and it's a great way to quickly start up that DOSless demo or game without having to manually change settings in the control panel. Good for real 3.5" drives, emulated ones, or with the CFFA 3000!</p> <p>3) There's probably a third one, but now I can't remember it. Anyone else have any ideas as to what they'd like to see enhanced in System 6.0.1?</p> <p><strong>Missing:</strong></p> <p>Anyone got a copy of Fontasm v2.x in English?</p> <p><strong>And now for something completely different:</strong></p> <p>Mitch Spector has found this rather interesting blog on a special <a href="http://garote.bdmonkeys.net/merryo_trolls/">IIGS game that was never released</a>. What do you make of it. The site possibly hasn't been updated since 2005, but I've emailed the author. Hope he gets back to me.</p> Thu, 27 Sep 2012 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/major-update-to-system-add-ons/ Accrued Updates: Hostage Box and docs! Plus many more docs! Mad Libs Box! The Joy of Hard Drive Image Submissions! MultiScribe GS Returns! http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/accrued-updates-hostage-box-and-docs-plus-many-more-docs-mad-libs-box-the-joy-of-hard-drive-image-submissions-multiscribe-gs-returns/ <p>Right, submissions have been accumulating over the last couple of months and it's time everyone's hard work to archive the IIGS was enjoyed by all!</p> <p>Antoine Vignau (did you REALLY think he'd stop helping?!) has submitted something highly prized, to me anyway: The IIGS box of <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/hostage/">Hostage</a>. In the 10 years I've been scouring eBay for IIGS stuff, this has never appeared. Through a haul in Belgium, Antoine was able to secure the box, as well as the manual and disk label scan. All are available from the Hostage archive, except the disk label scan -&nbsp;those will appear at a later date on the site. The new box replaces the old Amiga version placeholder I've had for years, that has the incorrect 'Hostages' title.</p> <p>And just for an encore, Antoine has also provided the Big Red Computer Club versions of manuals for the following programs: the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/bard-s-tale-i-tales-of-the-unknown-the/">Bard's Tale I</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/bard-s-tale-ii-the-destiny-knight-the/">II</a>&nbsp;(which include interesting manual addendums for the newer GS/OS versions of these two classic games), <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/mazer-ii/">Mazer II</a>&nbsp;(possibly the most enigmatic IIGS game ever, where a manual should provide more of a clue), <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/zany-golf/">Zany Golf</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/immortal-the/">The Immortal</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/cartooners/">Cartooners</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/instant-music/">Instant Music</a>. Additionally, better quality scans of the documentation for <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/ultima-i/">Ultima I</a>&nbsp;are available. After answering a request on <a href="https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en&amp;fromgroups#!forum/comp.sys.apple2">comp.sys.apple2</a>, we also have the full manual (albeit in black and white) for <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/apple-video-overlay-card/">Apple's Video Overlay Card</a>. One last piece of documentation very welcome is the English translation to the docs for <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/photonix-2-3/">Photonix II</a>.&nbsp;</p> <p>If that wasn't enough, Antoine has also found the ultra rare <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/star-trek-audio-clips/">Sound Source Star Trek Audio Clips</a>&nbsp;for the IIGS. Originally comprising three disks, these classic Trek samples are among the best quality sound bites I've heard on the IIGS and you can setup each sound using System 6's sound control panel for different functions of your IIGS that provide audio feedback. The documentation is also included.</p> <p>Another Mac to IIGS release for multimedia is the Bruce Jones Design Inc. <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/maps-maps-maps/">Maps!Maps!Maps!</a>&nbsp;collection. Whew. Thanks Antoine!</p> <p>Adding to Antoine's manuals, Andrew Roughan has submitted the manual for the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/second-sight/">Second Sight</a>&nbsp;card, the third party solution enabling VGA graphics capabilities for the IIGS! Andrew's also let me know I need to create a list of manuals still needed to complete the archive...I promise I'll get onto that soon!</p> <p>Matt Reichert made a surprising find -&nbsp;an <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/california-games-8-bit/">Apple IIc+ specific version of California Games</a>. Although screen shots were included on a IIc+ review for the November 1988 issue of A+, I just assumed there was a 5.25" disk drive hidden away in the background, but it turns out that was a bona fide screen shot with the game being run from the built in 3.5" drive. Really, the only difference between the IIc+ and the version for the IIe and IIc is the disk medium -&nbsp;the IIc+ version comes on a single 3.5" disk and doesn't require disk swapping, and that's a <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/8-bit-games-on-3-5-disk/">genre this archive is wanting to collect for</a>. You'll find the disk image, box and IIc+ manual addendum all from the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/california-games-8-bit/">California Games (8-bit) archive</a>. It also works perfectly well for the IIGS, but preferably, you'd want to play the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/california-games/">IIGS specific version</a>&nbsp;with better graphics and sound.</p> <p>Another welcome contribution has been made by your favourite <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/brianpicchi?feature=results_main">YouTube poster</a>&nbsp;and mine, Brian Picchi. He's scanned the box to <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/mad-libs/">Mad Libs</a>, a hard to define title that I've included under&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/reading/">Reading and Writing</a>.</p> <p>Clayton Cummins has submitted something new that I'd love to see everyone submit more of: entire hard drive image dumps. Why do I want to see these types of archive? If they're from SCSI or Vulcan drives from back in the the IIGS' heyday, they might include some rare software, system add-on, icon or imagery, etc. that's not yet archived. And in the case of Clay's contribution, it's turned up exactly that:</p> <p>Shareware games Backgammon by Phil Doto, Memo Cards by Carole Fox (translated into English from the French original) and Solitaire by Bill Hamshire (adding to his collection of well executed card games).</p> <p>I've included these new additions on the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/harddrive_image.zip">System 6 bootable image that includes Shareware and Freeware games</a>, trying to keep together the other works of Phil Doto and Bill Hamshire. Just a suggestion for a 32meg volume 2image -&nbsp;if anyone's got a fully installed <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/gno-me/">GNO/ME</a>&nbsp;with lots of executables installed with it, I'd love to get my hands on that.</p> <p>Robert Gomez has quite rightly pointed out there's no downloadable archive for MultiScribe GS, the precursor to <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/beaglewrite-gs-aka-multiscribe-gs-/">BeagleWrite GS</a>. So if you now download the zipped archive, it will also include v3.01 of MultiScribe GS. The older version still seems to exhibit intermittent unresponsive mouse clicks when used with Sweet 16.</p> <p>Buy a <a href="http://dreher.net/?s=projects/CFforAppleII&amp;c=projects/CFforAppleII/main.php">CFFA3000</a>&nbsp;for your real IIGS if you haven't already. I believe there are still quantities of this amazing card, so order one to enjoy your Apple II with a major speed boost without physical drives and multiple storage mediums!</p> Mon, 12 Nov 2012 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/accrued-updates-hostage-box-and-docs-plus-many-more-docs-mad-libs-box-the-joy-of-hard-drive-image-submissions-multiscribe-gs-returns/ Pangea Software Celebrates 25 years of Game Development via YouTube Video http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/pangea-software-celebrates-25-years-of-game-development-via-youtube-video/ <p>Pangea Software, who started on the 8-bit Apple II, but first gained attention through the IIGS and its commercial game <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/xenocide/">Xenocide</a>&nbsp;as well as its <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/pangea-s-24-hour-games/">24 hour games</a>&nbsp;and shareware games <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/orbizone/">Orbizone</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/senseless-violence-1-and-2/">Senseless Violence I &amp; II</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/cosmocade/">Cosmocade</a>, has posted a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wk_G7Qvj1Sk&amp;list=UUTIcxrD0X-FI6nqyvhQHd9g&amp;index=1&amp;feature=plcp">video on YouTube Celebrating their 25 year anniversary</a>. The video reveals how Brian Greenstone started the company back in college and reveals some very interesting facts and tidbits from not only the IIGS era, but his later working relationship with Apple and then further success with iOS. A great watch.</p> Tue, 04 Dec 2012 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/pangea-software-celebrates-25-years-of-game-development-via-youtube-video/ A Belated Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year – Goodies Inside! http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/a-belated-merry-christmas-and-a-happy-new-year-goodies-inside/ <p>I'm going to have to invent a word for delivering gifts after Christmas. Let's just ignore my tardiness for another year and get on with these late presents!</p> <p>Father Christmas, or as I've always known him, Antoine Vignau, has bestowed us Apple II children with multiple gifts.</p> <p>First and foremost, Antoine did some unorthodox searching looking for the extremely rare title I added to the archive a couple of years ago after stumbling upon an article in InCider/A+ magazine: <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/yourwordbox/">YourWordBox!</a>&nbsp;Antoine found it for sale on an <a href="http://www.abebooks.com/">online bookstore</a>. He ordered it and within a matter of days during the busy Christmas period, Antoine had in his possession the only known program that was specifically designed to only run from CD-ROM for the Apple IIGS.</p> <p>Antoine has sought permission from the original publisher and developer, Terry Loar (as well as the artist, Joe Szarek) and it's been granted for inclusion on What is the Apple IIGS?! In the process, Antoine asked Terry a few questions about this very rare title (the interview reveals how many copies were sold and why):</p> <p>Antoine Vignau: Why did you write that title for the Apple IIGS?</p> <p>Terry Loar: At that time I was a certified Apple developer and Apple assured the<br />educational developers that the ][ GS would remain the educational platform,<br />and the Mac would be used for scientific and business applications. However,<br />Apple reneged on their promise and discontinued the ][ GS - even though an<br />upgrade design was in the offing.</p> <p>Antoine: Did it sell well? By which channels (direct, resellers, schools)?</p> <p>Terry: I did direct selling and it sold about a dozen copies, if I remember correctly.</p> <p>Antoine: Was there a volume 2 developed (as stated in the volume 1 cover)?</p> <p>Terry: Volume 2 was never published.</p> <p>Antoine: Is that volume 2 (and 3) available for sale? I am interested in <br />those ;-)</p> <p>Terry: No</p> <p>Antoine: Did you convert the titles to the Macintosh platform?</p> <p>Terry: No, it would have cost me $250,000 to convert to the Mac.</p> <p>Antoine: Have you developed other titles for the Apple IIGS? Are they available?</p> <p>Terry: Your Wordbox! Is the only title that I developed for the ][ GS.</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/yourwordbox/">YourWordBox!</a>&nbsp;is one of the most historically interesting IIGS titles ever. The program itself and what Terry stated about Apple &lsquo;promising' to keep the IIGS as their educational platform of choice lends even more evidence that the Mark Twain ROM04 prototype was something Apple was seriously considering as their flagship for the education market. One of Steven Weyrich's recent blogs also provides more evidence for this.</p> <p>Beyond the exciting find of YourWordBox!, Antoine's also been busy with some other purchases. Suitably festive, Antoine has submitted everything for&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/paper-models-the-christmas-kit/">Paper Models - The Christmas Kit</a>, a set of graphics released by Activision in a similar vein to Hometown U.S.A. that you can print out, cut, fold and make paper models from.</p> <p>In addition, he's also been able to provide manuals for <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/dyoh-architecture/">Design Your Own Home: Architecture</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/platinum-paint/">Platinum Paint</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/deluxe-paint-ii/">Arts Parts volume 1</a>, (which I've rolled into the Deluxe Paint manuals collection, as well as a scan of the box), <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/animal-kingdom/">The Wonders of the Animal Kingdom</a>&nbsp;(also including the box), the fairly rare hand held scanner <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/lightingscan/">Lightning Scan GS</a>&nbsp;(although we're still missing the software drivers, please help if you can!) <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/magical-myths/">Magical Myths</a>&nbsp;(and its box) and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/medley-2-0/">Medley</a>. Last but not least, Antoine's also provided a box scan for <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/whales/">Audobon Whales</a>.</p> <p>Santa's Little Helper, or more widely known as Andrew Roughan, has also submitted some manuals. Replacing the black and white manual scan that Antoine previously had done, Andrew's scanned the manual for <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/apple-video-overlay-card/">Apple Video Overlay Card</a>&nbsp;(as well as a supplement for the Australian PAL version of the card). Another graphics card, the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/ast-visionplus/">AST VisionPlus</a>, has also been given the full documentation treatment as part of its archive.</p> <p>As always, all manuals have been OCRed, so search within Acrobat, Preview or even from OS X's Spotlight!</p> <p>Andrew's also been able help out <a href="http://www.wannop.info/speccie/Site/Speccies_Home_Pages.html">Ewen Wannop with his suite internet apps for the IIGS</a>. A new version of the FTP client SAFE2 (v2.2.6) was recently released, along with a new desk accessory, Byte Bagger, which enables users to change file attributes and edit the raw data of a file while never leaving whatever GS/OS app you're in.</p> <p>If you didn't get that Christmas present you were after, you might find it on a relatively new <a href="http://stores.ebay.com/Old-Software-Apple-II-IIe-IIc-IIgs/_i.html?rt=nc&amp;_dmd=2&amp;_sid=367138">eBay store</a>.</p> <p>It's a very comprehensive store, although IIGS titles aren't specified well, which particularly becomes a problem when there is both an 8-bit Apple II release and a 16-bit IIGS specific version of the same title. Ask the seller if ever you're unsure.</p> <p>Don't forget the other largest Apple II store on eBay: <a href="http://stores.ebay.com/00000-Vintage-Software-and-More?_rdc=1">Vintage Software and More</a>.</p> <p>And last but not least, I saw <a href="http://disney.go.com/wreck-it-ralph/">Wreck-It-Ralph</a>&nbsp;just before Christmas and enjoyed it immensely. There was a name that caught me during the rather awesome end credits: Art Director - Ian Gooding...Ian Gooding, where do I know that name? Oh yeah, he's the genius who did the graphics and animation for <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/zany-golf/">Zany Golf</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/immortal-the/">The Immortal</a>, who later went on to work at Disney. Hope it was a nice return to the 16-bit era for him working on the film!</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="image left" style="width: 320;"><img src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/Uploads/Zany-Golf-Wreck-It-Ralph.png" alt="" width="320" height="666" /></div> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Happy New Year everyone! Here's to a bumper Apple II year in 2013!</p> <p>P.S. If you're looking for news for the last three years (as the buttons on the right hand side only go up to 2009)...</p> <p><a title="2012" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2012" target="_blank">2012</a></p> <p><a title="2011" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2011" target="_blank">2011</a></p> <p><a title="2010" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2010" target="_blank">2010</a></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> Mon, 07 Jan 2013 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/a-belated-merry-christmas-and-a-happy-new-year-goodies-inside/ Now at a Store Near You – Every item from the Bard's Tale I and II http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/now-at-a-store-near-you-every-item-from-the-bard-s-tale-i-and-ii/ <p>Fans of the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/bard-s-tale-i-tales-of-the-unknown-the/">Bard's Tale I</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/bard-s-tale-ii-the-destiny-knight-the/">II</a>&nbsp;for the IIGS? (which incidentally are definitive versions featuring the best graphics and sound across all platforms the game was released for.)</p> <p>Clay Cummins has provided some hacked character disks that might make new adventurers a little bolder. Or seasoned adventurers wonder where on earth all these amazing items in Garth's inventory store came from.</p> <p>That's right, rather than hacking characters traits and hit points, Clay has hacked Garth's Store to include every item that can be found in the game! Not only are some of the items critical to finishing Bard 1 and 2, but also include very rare and exotic weapons and armour with which to equip your party. Be warned however, you still have to save your golden pennies to purchase these luxury items.</p> <p>Clay has so far provided fully stocked store hacks for both the original ProDOS 8 version and GS/OS versions of <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/bard-s-tale-i-tales-of-the-unknown-the/">The Bard's Tale I: Tales of the Unknown</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/bard-s-tale-ii-the-destiny-knight-the/">The Bard's Tale II: The Destiny Knight</a>. Oh, you didn't know there were newer GS/OS versions of Bard I and II? Try out these newer flavours if you haven't already, although I do still prefer the original ProDOS 8 versions myself with sample based instruments recorded specifically for both games. Just download the 2image archives for each game and enjoy with your favourite emulator or real IIGS.</p> <p>Following a discussion on <a href="https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en&amp;fromgroups#!forum/comp.sys.apple2">comp.sys.apple2</a>, I also added another link to the programming libraries included in my post <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/for-home-brew-just-add-hops-skips-jumps-blood-sweat-tears/">For Home Brew Just Add Hops...Skips, Jumps, Blood, Sweat &amp; Tears</a>. Created by Christopher Sheperd (no relation to Eric Sheperd), the <a href="https://github.com/cshepherd/libsoundGS">libsoundGS</a>&nbsp;library takes advantage of RAMfast or compact flash based storage and oversampling to play back music larger than can fit into a fully maxed out IIGS with 8 meg of RAM. Additionally, the library provides a means of adding other triggered sound effects to play in addition to sampled music. Sounds perfect for a potential port of <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/game-interpreters-part-iv-snatcher/">Snatcher</a>, but I've lost interest in that project as I don't think HyperCard is quite robust enough to do it justice on the IIGS. Needs an interpreter written from scratch.</p> <p>Please disregard the spam at the end of that particular article. I will get around to fixing the holes that fill up with a favourite proverbial pork based by-product.</p> Sun, 13 Jan 2013 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/now-at-a-store-near-you-every-item-from-the-bard-s-tale-i-and-ii/ The Treehouse Found! http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/the-treehouse-found/ <p>Brian Picchi has turned up another rare Apple II soft &ndash; <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/treehouse-the/">The Treehouse</a>! Quite possibly the last production to ever come out of your favourite 8-bit Apple II publisher and mine, Broderbund. Although it's not IIGS specific, it comes on a 3.5" disk and marks the end of an era. Brian's also provided a scan of the cover and a scan for the cover for <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/rampage/">Rampage</a>, another 8-bit title that was released on 3.5" disk.</p> <p>I promise sometime in 2013 I will be able to add links to the navigation bar to easily take you to the categories of <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/8-bit-games-on-3-5-disk/">8-bit games on 3.5" disk</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/8-bit-educational-on-3-5-disk/">educational software on 3.5" disk</a>. I may even add another category, apps on 3.5" disk as well! In the meantime, use the links above to get these rare wares.</p> Tue, 22 Jan 2013 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/the-treehouse-found/ Some Classic IIGS Games Now Hard Drive Installable! Plus, More Icons! http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/some-classic-iigs-games-now-hard-drive-installable-plus-more-icons/ <p>I'm a pretty happy camper at the moment. After buying IIGS games like Mean 18, World Games and Winter Games some 25 years ago, I can now finally play them from a hard drive, thanks to some instructions I found on the <a href="http://www.wannop.info/speccie/Site/Speccies_Home_Pages.html">TABBS CD-ROM</a>. Thanks to Speccie for making TABBS available to all and for some guidance on using Byte Bagger and understanding sector editing!</p> <p>The article by Joe Jaworski can be found <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/MOVING_DEPROTECTED_SOFTWARE_TO_HARD_DISKS.txt">here</a>,&nbsp;which was originally taken from the file called &lsquo;PATCHES.IIGS' on the TABBS CD-ROM.</p> <p>It's enabled me, a complete non-programmer and even worse sector editor, to change the hard paths of some games that couldn't just be copied to a hard drive (or any mass storage volume) and run from there without requiring the original (deprotected) floppy disk volume being mounted.</p> <p>I ended up using <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/salvation-supreme/">Salvation Supreme -&nbsp;Deliverance</a>&nbsp;to sector edit.&nbsp;It includes some neat features like find and replace, with a case sensitivity option. Replacing all instances of paths in a couple of clicks is wonderful and potentially saved me many frustrating hours of going line by line of the represented ASCII data.</p> <p>While I'm happy with what I have made work, there are still a few games that resist hard drive/mass storage installation. <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/dream-zone/">Dream Zone</a>&nbsp;is particularly of interest, and from the TABBS CD-ROM, I've found a <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/DREAM.ZONE.TXT">specific article</a>&nbsp;detailing how to make that title hard drive installable -&nbsp;I've spent hours trying to make it work, but it hasn't. It's possible the deprotection method used on the copy of Dream Zone I have is different to the one described in the article, and I need to change that. For the moment, I'm a bit sector edited out and will come back to it later when I'm motivated again. In the meantime, if someone else wants to try, read the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/DREAM.ZONE.TXT">following</a>.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><img class="left" style="border: 0px initial initial;" title="null" src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/Uploads/_resampled/ResizedImage1515-icdisc.gif" alt="" hspace="null" vspace="null" width="15" height="15" align="null" />&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/Games_with_Path_Mods.zip">Games with Path Modifications</a>&nbsp;(~8.8 meg download)</p> <p><br />Games that are now playable from this new hard drive image:</p> <p><a title="Aargh!" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/aaargh-/" target="_blank">Aargh!</a></p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/bard-s-tale-i-tales-of-the-unknown-the/">Bard's Tale I</a>&nbsp;(the original ProDOS 8 release, however, still needs a floppy disk for characters. Also note: found an executable that enabled it to run from a hard drive and System 6. No hard paths were changed)</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/bard-s-tale-ii-the-destiny-knight-the/">Bard's Tale II</a>&nbsp;(the same caveat applies to the sequel)</p> <p><a title="Blackjack Academy" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/blackjack-academy/" target="_blank">Blackjack Academy</a></p> <p><a title="Impossible Mission II" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/impossible-mission-2/" target="_blank">Impossible Mission II</a></p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/mean-18/">Mean 18</a>&nbsp;(you'll need to click the &lsquo;Next Disk' button several times to find the courses on the root directory of the &lsquo;G' volume. Also, play with a minimum set of system extensions)</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/roadwar-2000/">Roadwar 2000</a>&nbsp;(again, needs a separate 3.5" disk for saved games)</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/skate-or-die/">Skate or Die</a>&nbsp;(Will only run from early versions of ProDOS 16 -&nbsp;it WON'T work from System 6!</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/superstar-ice-hockey/">Super Star Ice Hockey</a>&nbsp;(will only work from System 4 or 5)</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/strip-poker-ii/">Strip Poker II</a>&nbsp;(will only work from ProDOS 16 and data disks must still be accessed from 3.5" disks)</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/tower-of-myraglen/">Tower of Myraglen</a>&nbsp;(Open the game from the &lsquo;TWR' folder, not the &lsquo;TOWERMYR' folder. Save games will work fine WITHOUT additional disks)</p> <p><a title="Winter Games" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/winter-games/" target="_blank">Winter Games</a></p> <p><a title="World Games" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/world-games/" target="_blank">World Games</a></p> <p>While this makes me happy at least, there's good news (obviously) and bad news. The bad news is that you can't change the name of the volume these games are installed to and neither can you change the name of the folders they reside in. You may be able to change some of the application names to something more user friendly, but then another part of the program, like Mean 18's Architecture program, is expecting to find &lsquo;GOLF.SYS16' specifically for when you want to try out your golf course creations in the game, and WON'T find it if you change its name.</p> <p>Here's a list of games that still aren't playable from hard drive - If anyone fancies a challenge with sector editing, or if you could just check you don't already have a HD friendly executable on your old SCSI drive, all submissions for ProDOS mass storage installable versions of games, apps and educational software are <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/you-can-help/">very welcome</a>:</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/sea-strike/">Sea Strike</a>&nbsp;(Originally would not work from System 6, but Antoine / LoGo managed to fix that, but it's still not able to run from a hard drive &ndash; the program expects itself to be found in slot 5)</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/king-of-chicago/">King of Chicago</a>&nbsp;(An already hacked version runs from a hard drive and System 6, but it's too flakey to reliably play a whole game through &ndash; results in a hard crash eventually &ndash; needs revisiting)</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/marble-madness/">Marble Madness</a>&nbsp;(A ProDOS 8 based application, it doesn't run with System 6 or like running from a hard drive. Recommend using LoGo's more recent crack, which fixed the much older version archived that presented graphical glitches at the very end of the game.)</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/rocket-ranger/">Rocket Ranger</a>&nbsp;(Neither System 6 or hard drive installable (eventually displays an error 'Program disk must be booted')</p> <p><a title="Alien Mind" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/alien-mind/" target="_blank">Alien Mind</a>&nbsp;(I don't know how this custom bootloader could ever run from System 6, currently you can best run it as a single volume on a CFFA3000 or theoretically, a Floppy Emu (I haven't tried this yet) or any IIGS emulator thanks to the work&nbsp;<a href="https://ballmerpeak.org/alien_mind_part2/">Ballmer Peak made to make it ROM03 compatible and a single volume</a>&nbsp;from the French United Crackers Klan release).</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/gate/">GATE</a>&nbsp;(Again, with this custom operating system, I don't know that you could ever get this to run from System 6 and a hard drive. A treatment similar to that made for Alien Mind would be a welcome edition to combine both gameplay disks and the separate save game disk as a single archive)</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/space-shark/">Space Shark</a>&nbsp;(another custom booter, this time from the French United Crackers Klan themselves, aka Miami Software.</p> <p><strong>Adventure</strong></p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/dream-zone/">Dream Zone&nbsp;</a>(System 6 compatible, although you need to turn off system extensions that allow to have a desktop picture, as it overlays over the top of Dream Zone's interface!). I've had a go at trying the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/DREAM.ZONE.TXT">specific HD install instuctions</a>&nbsp;with sector editing it for a few hours, but it didn't work. Anyone else want to give it a go? Needs to load and save games to a large ProDOS volume as well)</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/transylvania-iii/">Transylvania III</a>&nbsp;(ProDOS 8 based, not System 6 compatible. Loading and Saving games would also need to work from a large ProDOS volume)</p> <p><strong>Board Games</strong></p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/bridge-6-0/">Bridge 6.0</a>&nbsp;(not really System 6.0.1 compatible, and disk name of single character &lsquo;X'! Problem!)</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/chess-master-2100/">Chess Master 2100</a>&nbsp;(System 6 incompatible and doesn't seem to like being installed on a hard drive either. Only version 1.1 is archived &ndash; perhaps newer versions supported hard drive installation)</p> <p><strong>RPGs</strong></p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/war-in-middle-earth/">War in Middle Earth</a>&nbsp;(System 6.0.1 compatible. PROBLEM! Disk name is has two fewer characters to convert to the new path convention of /G/.. !!!)</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/ancient-land-of-ys/">Ancient Land of Ys</a>&nbsp;(System 6.0.1 compatible &ndash; I thought I'd found a hard drive installable version...problem is, it crashes when you go to save or resume a game! This version still currently resides on the Board and RPGs 32meg volume, but you could also refer to the two 800k disk images and start 'fresh' with this. I have found this&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/Ys_HD_Crack_n_HD_Install.txt">text document</a>, but its hard drive installation method requires hard path changes and you STILL need to have a save game disk specifically called 'USER' in slot 5, drive 1 or 2 to save and resume games.</p> <p><strong>Simulation</strong></p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/destroyer/">Destroyer</a>&nbsp;(System 6 incompatible. Changing hard path doesn't look like it's an option)</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/grand-prix-circuit/">Grand Prix Circuit</a>&nbsp;(System 6 INCOMPATIBLE changing hard path doesn't look like it's an option)</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/hostage/">Hostage</a>&nbsp;(changing hard path doesn't look like it's an option)</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/pirates-/">Pirates!</a>&nbsp;(changing hard path doesn't look like it's an option)</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/silent-service/">Silent Service</a>&nbsp;(changing hard path doesn't look like it's an option)</p> <p><a title="Tomahawk" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/tomahawk/" target="_blank">Tomahawk</a>&nbsp;(custom bootloader would make this impossible)</p> <p><a title="The Hunt for Red October" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/hunt-for-red-october-the/" target="_blank">The Hunt for Red October</a>&nbsp;(custom bootloader would make this impossible)</p> <p><strong>Sports</strong></p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/4th-and-inches/">4th and Inches</a>&nbsp;(changing hard path doesn't look like it's an option)</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/gba-championship-basketball/">GBA Basketball</a>&nbsp;(uses BASIC to start! Weird. Updated Prefix but no joy)</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/hardball-/">Hardball</a>&nbsp;(changing hard path doesn't look like it's an option but found it uses &lsquo;*' wildcard -&nbsp;can these be kept when moving to another volume? Does the &lsquo;*' wildcard actually work?)</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/serve-and-volley/">Serve and Volley</a>&nbsp;(changing hard path doesn't look like it's an option)</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Additionally, I've been collating more icons to make launching our IIGS games a little bit prettier. While it's still not a complete collection, we've mostly got sports covered now, most unreleased games covered and a couple more sim games. Not to mention that most of the new hard drive installable games have icons too! As always, if you can <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/you-can-help/">contribute</a>&nbsp;with some icons of your own, it would be much appreciated. Grab the new icons by re-downloading the Games 32 meg ProDOS volumes from the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/home/">home page</a>.</p> Mon, 28 Jan 2013 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/some-classic-iigs-games-now-hard-drive-installable-plus-more-icons/ Manuals for Mini Putt and GATE; Styleware Font Library; New Unreleased Rumours Roundup http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/manuals-for-mini-putt-and-gate-styleware-font-library-new-unreleased-rumours-roundup/ <p>Frank Rossi has submitted scans for the manuals of <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/mini-putt/">Mini Putt</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/gate/">GATE</a>, as well as scans for disk labels for California Games, Neuromancer, Mini Putt, 4th &amp; Inches and GATE. Disk labels aren't included on the archive yet, but the archive is already coming close to a full set of disk label scans for games already. <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/you-can-help/#disk_label_scans">Check the list</a>&nbsp;to see if you can contribute labels for games, applications and educational software.</p> <p>Resettling back into Melbourne, I came across a title I've had for years but neglected to archive it &ndash; <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/styleware-font-library-vol/">Styleware Font Library Vol 1</a>. It includes fonts specifically designed for the IIGS, which believe it or not, is a fairly rare thing, as most other fonts were directly converted from the Mac. The manual (actually in the innerside of the package) includes some interesting information on how fonts work on the IIGS (as well as the Mac) which is the most I've ever read on the subject.</p> <p>Also recently, Michael Shopshin wrote in to mention that he once saw Cyan's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Manhole">The Manhole</a>&nbsp;(an early HyperCard based title for the Mac) on a IIGS when he visited a McGraw Hill dealership in the early 90s. I'm always first to play devil's advocate and suggest that his memory was playing tricks on him, but Michael affirms that it was on a IIGS connnected to a CD-ROM drive and was in colour (which the Mac version wasn't). Anyone ever heard of the Manhole being available for the IIGS? It's possible given it could have been converted to HyperCard IIGS and the graphics given a makeover in colour.</p> <p>Another unreleased game that could have been available for the IIGS is <a href="http://museumvictoria.com.au/learning-federation/apple-computer-company-games/apple-games3/">Fire Brigade</a>, a turn based strategy game that&nbsp;<a href="http://quartdepomme.fr">Fran&ccedil;ois Michaud</a>&nbsp;found when buying the DOS and Mac versions of the game. The game's manual revealed that a IIGS version was done. Fran&ccedil;ois then proceeded to contact Panther Games, the developer (based in Australia no less!), but they confirmed the IIGS version was scraped due to 'hardware limitations'. A shame to be sure.</p> <p>Also recently coming to light thanks to Antoine's scans of catalogues that came with some Unicorn titles, is that there seem to be even more Unicorn Software educational titles released for the IIGS than previously thought. The titles are:</p> <p>Phonics Fun<br />Fraction Action<br />Decimal Dungeon<br />Percentage Panic<br />Ghostly Grammar<br />The Logic Master</p> <p>These titles haven't appeared anywhere else (reviews or mail order catalogue listings in A+/InCider magazines) so they're either rare or they weren't released either. If you know anything about these titles, be sure to <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/submit-news/">write in</a>.</p> <p>Antoine was able to get in touch with <a href="http://www.working-as-designed.blogspot.com.au/">Joseph B Hewitt</a>, who worked at Unicorn in the mid to late 80s, but unfortunately, he couldn't shed any further light on these titles.</p> <p>In other IIGS releated news, Ewen Wannop has released another desktop based application, called Phoenix. Like it's namesake, this program will undelete files like a phonenix from the ashes. Ewen has also updated the Byte Bagger NDA to version 1.0.4, so go to his <a href="http://www.wannop.info/speccie/Site/Download_Centre.html">download page</a>&nbsp;and sort yourselves out.</p> Fri, 22 Feb 2013 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/manuals-for-mini-putt-and-gate-styleware-font-library-new-unreleased-rumours-roundup/ Hard Drive Image with Multiple Versions of ProDOS and GS/OS now ROM03 Compatible http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/hard-drive-image-with-multiple-versions-of-prodos-and-gs-os-now-rom03-compatible/ <p>This is something that I'd been meaning to do for a while, but the motivation was lacking. Going through my working IIGSs kept in storage at my father's place, I now know I have two ROM03 machines and that's finally given me the impetus to do a fresh re-install of a newer version of Taifun Boot, Ninja Force's utility for giving you the option to boot to different versions of ProDOS and GS/OS from the one volume, that is ROM03 compatible. In addition to the previous ROM01 only Taifun Boot volume I have provided, I've added a couple more versions of ProDOS 16, so you can quickly experience of the evolution of the IIGS's native OS from its humble beginnings all the way to System 6.</p> <p>You might ask what use being able to boot to different versions of the operating system might be. Primarily, it's useful to run programs that aren't compatible with System 6 from a hard drive. For example, Superstar Ice Hockey, which I recently patched so it will run from a hard drive, will only run from System 4 or 5. So you can quickly choose System 5.0.4 from Taifun Boot's menu, then launch Superstar Ice Hockey from the Finder and voila. Another game is Bouncing Bluster, which annoyingly has only ever run from System 4. Another use is if any developer wants to test their wares across multiple OSs quickly.</p> <p>Two notes: I've turned off saving Finder data (the positioning of windows and icons) for the systems below System 6. This is because earlier systems will overwrite the postitioning System 6 remembers, as well as turning the default yellow of folders back to the old white, which I personally don't like. Also, under emulation, you may notice a slight pause accompanied with the wristwatch cursor when you get to the Finder desktop from System 4 and 5. This is because it's searching for 5.25" disks. If the pause bugs you, you dip into the system folder, go to 'Drivers' and make the 5.25" disk driver inactive from 'Get Info'.</p> <p>The updated image is availble from the homepage, along with the rest of my 32meg images, or here:</p> <p> <p><img class="left" style="border: 0px initial initial;" title="null" src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/Uploads/_resampled/ResizedImage1515-icdisc.gif" alt="" hspace="null" vspace="null" width="15" height="15" align="null" />&nbsp;<a title="Taifun Boot Hard Drive Image" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/System_Taifun_Boot_ROM03_Compatible.zip" target="_blank">All versions of GS/OS &amp; ProDOS 16 Hard Drive Image</a>&nbsp;(~13.6meg)</p> <div><br /></div> </p> Wed, 27 Feb 2013 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/hard-drive-image-with-multiple-versions-of-prodos-and-gs-os-now-rom03-compatible/ Homebrew Helpings: Lots of Courses for Mean 18 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/homebrew-helpings-lots-of-courses-for-mean-1/ <p>Sorting through many miscelleous archives forwarded on from Antoine as he comes into contact with random collections and images each disk from them, I came across 8 disks worth of golf courses for <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/mean-18/">Mean 18</a>, the excellent golfing sim from Accolade. To use them, you'll need to point the Mean 18 or Architecture programs to the 3.5" disk images (or actual disks). Unfortuntaely, you cannot copy all the levels to the recently sector edited <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/Games_with_Path_Mods.zip">Mean 18 that runs from a hard drive</a>. The program will only list up to 6 courses per volume, so you might as well keep them on the disks as is.</p> Mon, 04 Mar 2013 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/homebrew-helpings-lots-of-courses-for-mean-1/ Mr Sprite and Brutal Deluxe's Cross Platform Development Tools Plans http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/mr-sprite-and-brutal-deluxe-s-cross-platform-development-tools-plans/ <p><a href="http://www.brutaldeluxe.fr/">Brutal Deluxe</a>&nbsp;has released another asset in their set of cross platform development tools for the IIGS - <a href="http://www.brutaldeluxe.fr/products/crossdevtools/mrsprite/">Mr Sprite</a>. It's a useful utility on several levels that makes the preparation of sprites the best available for the IIGS. It automagically extracts sprites from a sprite sheet (where all sprites for an intended game are included in an image), mirrors and flips existing sprites so you have sprites facing all necessary ways (if necessary) and automatically generates code for <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/merlin-16-v4-08/">Merlin 16+</a>&nbsp;for each sprite, which is the most optimised code you'll ever find on the IIGS for sprites. If there was any doubt this is the best method, check out Antoine and Olivier's <a href="http://www.brutaldeluxe.fr/products/crossdevtools/mrspritetech/index.html">comprehensive summary</a>&nbsp;of how their sprite tech works.</p> <p>Mr Sprite joins previously released <a href="http://www.brutaldeluxe.fr/products/crossdevtools/index.html">cross platform development tools</a>&nbsp;from Brutal Deluxe <a href="http://www.brutaldeluxe.fr/products/crossdevtools/cadius/index.html">Cadius</a>, <a href="http://www.brutaldeluxe.fr/products/crossdevtools/kegs/">KEGS for modern IDEs</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.brutaldeluxe.fr/products/crossdevtools/windowcapture/">Window Capture</a>.</p> <p>Olivier Zardini explains the philosphy behind making development tools for the IIGS... that aren't used on a IIGS: 'We have started from scratch. We are rewriting all the required generic tools allowing us to to minimize the time required to create new games. And because it is more efficient to use modern tools &amp; computers, the way to go is to create such tools on a PC and using the IIGS as a target machine, not as a developpement machine. Did people writing video games for Nintendo at the time&nbsp;also&nbsp;use the Nintendo console to program? Answer is of course NO. They were using more advanced hardware like a PC with dedicated tools like a cross compiler. Of course it takes more time to recreate everything on PC than just using the IIgs native tool; but if you have to create several games, at the end, you will be more efficient by spending a few times first to design inovative tools than using the same old tools.'</p> <p>On Mr Sprite: 'It is a sprite compiler for the IIGS. It creates fast assembly 65c816 code to display sprites on the IIGS screen for games. You start with a GIF file full of Spirtes and 1 second later, the code is ready to be tested in your IIGS! It is probably the most efficient way (fast) to display something on the IIGS screen today. Faster means more sprites on the screen or bigger ones. Instead of writing such tools on the IIGS, we have designed it to work on the PC so we can process huge number of sprites in one click and the code we produce (a direct 65c816 output) is VERY optimized (thanks to the MB of memory &amp; processor power the PC provide). You design your graphics on your PC, you organize your sprites there on very large pictures and you don't care anymore to have the IIgs to do the&nbsp;conversion. For all the next games, we won't have anymore to care about finding the best way to display sprites on the screen. We did it! By covering all the basics of video game programming needs (read keyboard, joystick, display sprites, play sound, play music, do scrolling, play animation...) as generic library, we will end by having only the core of the game to create for each project. And this is about 20% of the total line of code. 80% is (or should be) game independant.'</p> <p>On what cross development tools Brutal Deluxe is going to produce next: 'We have also few other to deliver like the one used to re-create the animation steps from sprite sheet and the one used to get resources from binary files (Memory Dump or ROM from video game). Next tools will be more development oriented (65c816 cross assembler, 65c816 cross disassember...).'</p> <p>I asked Olivier 'How do you and Antoine want people to use these tools? For example, are you happy that people randomly start catching resources of certain games, or are there specific games you've already done a technical evaluation on and would rather that IIGS users out there concentrate on resource gathering for those games?'</p> <p>Olivier responds:'The tools are for everyone and also for the future (if one day someone decides to go back to IIGS programming he will be probably happy not to start from scratch). The first idea with the tool is to give a modern easy way to program the IIGS. Perhaps you have some people here and there ready for that but they don't want to face the 80*24 text mode (environment to write code) anymore. When do you have time nowadays? Sometime at the office, sometime in a plane or in front of your laptop. So we have to bring the tools there, on the machine people are using everyday. It is hard to go back into <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/dream-grafix/">Dream Graphix</a>&nbsp;in 320*200 when you can use PhotoShop in 1920*1080. Everything is not yet done to have the complete chain of IIGS software creation on the PC side, but we're taking it step by step.'</p> <p>'Of course, we also use the tools ourselves, just to make sure they are efficient.'</p> <p>'We encourage people to use our tools to grab the resources for the games they want to see one day on the IIGS screen, because it is the first and very important step of the grame creation process. And we maintain an invitation for helping you with your own development efforts.'</p> <p><img style="border: 0px initial initial;" src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/Uploads/SpritePictures.gif" alt="" width="559" height="95" /></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>I ask Olivier the following: 'How about music and sound effects? There was a recent discussion on c.s.a2 about how to add triggered sound fx and music together for games. Do you have any development frameworks in mind for that? I'm not a big fan of MIDISynth music (requires too much CPU and sounds very artificial) but it's true to say there's a lot of MIDI music that we can convert easily.'</p> <p>Olivier:'Sound effects are, for once, very easy to handle because the IIGS has separate RAM and a dedicated chip (the Ensoniq and its DOC RAM). Also because all computers use the same sound encoding (moving a sound to 8 bit resolution at 22 khz is piece of cake comparing to graphic conversions are). So, we fill the sound RAM with 64 KB of sound effects and we have very few CPU power to play the sound. Perfect for games.'</p> <p>'Music is a real topic. The easy way is to use MIDI files, because they are available everywhere and render well on the IIGS. Once gain, who today will spend energy to write music using IIGS capabilities using Soundsmith or NoiseTracker?'</p> <p>'I think we can have games without music. But probably not without sound. Or we can keep the music for the introduction and switch to sound effects during game (what we think we'll do for Barbarian).'</p> <p>Lastly, I ask :'What about scrolling in games? Mr Sprite handles sprites (obviously) but what about scrolling? I ask because the Generic Tile Engine that Lucas Scharenbroich was working on was quite amazing, but even after years of development, Lucas still felt it could be better. Now Lucas' blog has disappeared and can only be accessed by <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20111005054108/http://iigs.dreamhost.com/gte/gte.html ">Web Archive</a>.'</p> <p>Olivier:'Mr Sprite displays the sprite but do not remove it from the screen. Or, in animation, you have to alternate the sequence : draw sprite / remove sprite (=display background) / draw sprite at new location...'</p> <p>'Before entering the scrolling part, we have first to deal with sprite animation. It would be useless to have a very fast drawing routine if the cleanup is very slow! So next step would be the Animation Tool, to create, from a Sprite sheet, smooth sprites animations (using of course the Mr Sprite drawing routine). This will help to recreate the animation steps from a sprite sheet.'</p> <p>'Scrolling will be (yet) another topic.'</p> <p>Well, there you have it people. Another great tool and without wanting to put too much pressure on Olivier and Antoine, a brighter future for cross platform development for the IIGS. Thanks guys!</p> Mon, 11 Mar 2013 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/mr-sprite-and-brutal-deluxe-s-cross-platform-development-tools-plans/ Updates Big and Small http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/updates-big-and-small/ <p>We now have pull down navigation links to the 8-bit programs on the 8-bit 3.5" disk categories; <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/8-bit-games-on-3-5-disk/">for games</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/8-bit-educational-on-3-5-disk/">educational warez</a>&nbsp;and at last,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/8-bit-apps-on-3-5-disk/">applications</a>&nbsp;as well (although it's a modest start). There are also some brand new categories as well - <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/unreleased-vapourware/">Unreleased and Vapourware</a>&nbsp;applications, which is currently unpopulated by I'll add a few titles soon, and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/special-needs/">Special Needs</a>&nbsp;educational software. This section is primarily reserved for the programs of Laureate Learning Systems', who even into the 2000s, was still selling their 8-bit and IIGS specific software. However, they have since stopped selling the software and my email enquiries to them go unanswered. If anyone has any of their rare and valued software, please write in or submit it via the site.</p> <p>I recently learned that some of the 8-bit game and educational titles on 3.5" disk images weren't working properly with the <a href="http://dreher.net/?s=projects/CFforAppleII&amp;c=projects/CFforAppleII/main.php">CFFA3000</a>, and it was the old and buggy (at least with OS X Snow Leopard) program I use, <a href="http://dreher.net/?s=projects/CFforAppleII&amp;c=projects/CFforAppleII/main.php">ADFS</a>, for converting between different types of disk image. I've now fixed a variety of titles from these categories so the 2images now work fine with the CFFA3000, so feel free to download each of the images again from the 8-bit educational and gaming software on 3.5" disk if you've ever encountered issues. I might have to look into installing WINE for OS X so <a href="http://ciderpress.sourceforge.net/">CiderPress</a>&nbsp;is available for my disk imaging utility needs.</p> <p>Speaking of the CFFA3000, if you haven't already got one, why not?! It'll eliminate the need for SCSI hard drives and the Disk ][ floppy drive, but not the 3.5" disk drive for IIGS users, as my forthcoming review of this still splendid card will reveal. It's still the best way to store anything on an Apple II and luckily, R&amp;D Automation have just announced that a third production run of the card will be coming in Spring, hopefully September. Check out the <a href="http://dreher.net/?s=projects/CFforAppleII&amp;c=projects/CFforAppleII/main.php">project status</a>&nbsp;and be sure to sign up to be notified when pre-orders are ready.</p> <p>In the meantime, it's back to updates on this site: The <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/shareware-games/">DuelTris</a>&nbsp;limited edition jewel case packaging has been submitted by Antoine. This rarity was mailed out to all those who paid for their shareware fee for this killer version of Tetris.</p> <p>Jorma Honkanen submitted a scan for the Championship Edition <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/lode-runner-revisited/">Lode Runner</a>&nbsp;box, which works well with the ACS IIGS only compilation of Lode Runner and loads of extra levels to play with.</p> <p>Arriving back in Melbourne, unpacking everything and going through some old CD-ROM archives, I came across a scan <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/alge-blaster-plus/">Algebra Blaster Plus!</a>, that I forgot I had and unfortunately, can't remember who (I think it was an Australian chap who needed to sell his Apple II collection) originally submitted it to me perhaps some 4 or 5 years ago.</p> <p>I've also made some updates to the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/harddrive_image.zip">Freeware and Shareware games 32 meg volume</a>: a newer version of Carte Primus, grouped the Todd J Wood and Doug Davies' card games together in a folder and added their card converter program, which allows you to add your own designs to all of their card games, found the icon to Operation Lambda at last (how did I ever misplace it!?) I've also updated some icons here and there across all the 32 meg ProDOS volumes. Check em out via the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/home/">home page</a>&nbsp;and as always, if you can provide an icon for an app you don't see already has one, go for it!</p> <p>For petrol heads, I've been able to create a fully loaded &lsquo;Play Disk' for <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/test-drive-ii/">Test Drive II</a>, something that I had tried to do in the past, but encountered a very unfriendly MS-DOS installer. That hasn't changed, but whatever voodoo I employed, it now let me add all the extra cars and scenery disks for the game to the one volume, which now means NOT having to swap between each of the individual disks all the time. Now, you can simply load the Test Drive II Master Disk, insert the Play Disk, and enjoy disk-swapping-free driving pleasure. Be sure to read the documentation for more specific info.</p> <p>Additionally, I've got some extra info on how best to enjoy <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/captain-blood/">Captain Blood</a>, the rather challenging adventure game. Check it out at the end of my review.</p> <p>Andrew Roughan spotted there was a Christmas Songs disk available for <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/diversi-tune-v1-1/">Diversi Tune</a>&nbsp;and it wasn't included in my archive. Well, thanks to Antoine again, who recently sent me his own disk images of Diversi Tunes, I happened to come across the missing Christmas Songs...as well as American Folk and Gospel. They're all available from the one easy to download .zip archive. Who's for a sing-a-long?</p> <p>I've also created a new 32 meg volume, entitled <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/Hardware_Apps.zip">Hardware Apps</a>&nbsp;(~3.6meg). It includes all the software found on separate disk images for each of the hardware items on the site that includes any software/drivers for them. I've also moved the &lsquo;Drivers' directory from the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/System_Addons.zip">System Add-ons</a>&nbsp;32 meg 2image into Hardware Apps, as it's more relevant there. It also frees up a *little* bit of space on the System Addons volume, allowing me to include the latest system extensions from <a href="http://www.wannop.info/speccie/Site/Speccies_Home_Pages.html">Ewen Wannop</a>, the brand new NDA RamRunTime (which allows you to store BRAM settings AND lets you use an ethernet card in conjunction with the Marinetti TCP/IP stack to automatically set to your IIGS' system clock if you have a failed battery). Also available, the v1.0.5 update to the Byte Bagger NDA. Of course, it's always better to grab them from <a href="http://www.wannop.info/speccie/Site/Download_Centre.html">Ewen's own site</a>, as he has made exquisite PDF manuals to go with each of his productions.</p> <p>As usual, if you come across a hardware related piece of software or driver or any system extension that you don't see on this 32 meg 2image, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/you-can-help/#submit_2image">let me know and submit it</a>.</p> <p>Last but not least, I quite like the <a href="http://noirlac.tumblr.com/archive">Noirlac | when kevin wins, the planet loses</a>&nbsp;blog. I've been hesitant to endorse it fully, because it doesn't credit where the pixel art filling this digital scrapbook comes from, or which artists originally created it and it's a bit dodgy given Noirlac (or kevin) is making money out of it selling t-shirts. Because of it, I fear to watch yet cannot turn away thanks to my love of pixel art. Make your own mind up. The collection is VERY platform agnostic, you'll see anything from the C64 to the PC88, and even a lot of Apple II stuff, and even... IIGS imagery. The thrill of finding some random pixel of our favourite platform is quite fun :-)</p> Thu, 25 Apr 2013 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/updates-big-and-small/ Wings & Kangaroo Manuals now available. Dungeon Master Demo Fixed! http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/wings-kangaroo-manuals-now-available-dungeon-master-demo-fixed/ <p>Antoine's found some missing manuals and scanned them to include in the archive here. <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/wings/">Wings</a>, the alternative launcher application, can now be more fully appreciated through its rich feature set now that it's documented and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/kangaroo-v1-3/">Kangaroo</a>, the system extension that greatly improves the open and save dialogues on the IIGS. Antoine had already provided all the French manuals, but now the previously elusive Seven Hills manual in English is archived. Still proving elusive however, is the newer English version 1.5 of Kangaroo however. If anyone can submit that, or v1.4 or higher for Transprog III or v1.1 or higher of the Manager, that would be great.</p> <p>Rick Gast wrote in to let me know the 2image archive for the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/dungeon-master-demo/">Dungeon Master Demo</a>&nbsp;was corrupt and has been able to replace it with a fully working copy. Game demos can be interesting little beasts &ndash; sometimes revealing earlier features of a game that were changed for the final release. Rick may be able to provide more demos not currently archived either, so stay tuned.</p> Sun, 19 May 2013 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/wings-kangaroo-manuals-now-available-dungeon-master-demo-fixed/ More Manuals – Out of this World, Kaleidokubes, Maps! Maps! Maps!, Thunderscan Read Me First and the ProTERM 3 box for good measure http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/more-manuals-out-of-this-world-kaleidokubes-maps-maps-maps-thunderscan-read-me-first-and-the-proterm-3-box-for-good-measure/ <p>Antoine's dug even deeper and found some more manuals previously unarchived: <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/kaleidokubes/">Kaleidokubes</a>&nbsp;(which reveals there's a version 2 &ndash; which I've now updated for the 2image archive and the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/Board_Games_and_RPGs.zip">Board games 32meg volume</a>), <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/maps-maps-maps/">Maps! Maps! Maps!</a>&nbsp;and a Read Me First file for <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/thunderscan/">Thunderscan</a>&nbsp;(which my Thunderscan manuals were missing). Brian Picchi also chipped in with the IIGS reference card for <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/out-of-this-world/">Out of This World</a>.</p> <p>Antoine's also scanned the package for <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/proterm-3-1/">ProTERM</a>&nbsp;and I've moved this title from the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/comms-applications/">Communications</a>&nbsp;category and moved it into the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/8-bit-apps-on-3-5-disk/">8-bit Apps on 3.5" disk</a>&nbsp;genre; a more accurate place for it to be archived. In the same vein, I've moved <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/strategic-conquest/">Strategic Conquest</a>&nbsp;from <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/board-games/">Board games</a>&nbsp;to <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/8-bit-games-on-3-5-disk/">8-bit Games on 3.5" disk</a>. I also realised <a href="http://www.apple-iigs.info/home.php">Arnaud Brossard</a>&nbsp;had scanned the manual for this title quite some time ago when we exchanged our archives back in 2009, so that's included with that title now.</p> <p>And now for something completely different: how about some art made on the IIGS back in its heyday? An eBay vendor is selling some&nbsp;John Byrnes Cachets (the previous name of an artist now known more by 'Onedog Cachets') that were created on the IIGS and printed from an Image Writer II back in the late '80s. Some examples <a href="http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/25-45-cent-America-by-John-Byrnes-Cachets-lowest-price-ever-sale-/380662385253?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&amp;hash=item58a13f0a65&amp;_uhb=1">1</a>, <a href="http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Cable-Car-by-John-Byrnes-cachets-lowest-price-ever-sale-/380662377003?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&amp;hash=item58a13eea2b&amp;_uhb=1">2</a>, <a href="http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Patrol-Wagon-by-John-Byrnes-Cachets-lowest-price-ever-sale-/380662377911?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&amp;hash=item58a13eedb7&amp;_uhb=1">3</a>.</p> <p>I personally don't think the art is good for art's sake, nor does it come close to being good pixel art. The worst is still to come: can an artist call themself that if they use clip art (from Clip Art Gallery by the looks of it) if you check out this <a href="http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Elvis-the-songs-by-John-Byrnes-cachets-lowest-price-ever-sale-/380663021747?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&amp;hash=item58a148c0b3&amp;_uhb=1">example</a>?</p> Wed, 19 Jun 2013 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/more-manuals-out-of-this-world-kaleidokubes-maps-maps-maps-thunderscan-read-me-first-and-the-proterm-3-box-for-good-measure/ KansasFest Begins Again, as does OzKFest. Sweet 16 v3.0 Released! IIGS Sales Demo Added. http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/kansasfest-begins-again-as-does-ozkfest-sweet-16-v3-0-released-iigs-sales-demo-added/ <p>Hi all! It's that time of year again, where <a href="http://www.kansasfest.org/">KansasFest</a>&nbsp;kicks off as the best place to be for an Apple II afficiando. Not so much if you don't live in the on the American continent somewhere, and that's why Steven Kazoullis has decided to organise a similar get together in Brisbane Australia &ndash; <a href="http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/6314728/www/ozkfest.net/The_Event.html">OzKFest</a>. Which I'm looking forward to attending! At last, I'll be able to meet more than 5 people at the same time, in the flesh, to share in our love of the Apple II! Meeting with people I've emailed for years and years and now finally get to meet them. And escape the cold of Melbourne and enjoy the warmer climes on Brisbane! See you all there!</p> <p>KansasFest already seems to have started early and as party of the celebrations, Sheppy has released <a href="http://www.sheppyware.net/downloads/downloads-mac/files/Sweet16_3.0.zip">Sweet 16 v3.0</a>! Most notable with this release is being able to copy files to and from your Mac OS X environment and the emulated GS/OS one. Awesome sauce!</p> <p>In the leadup to OzKFest, Andrew Roughan suggested adding the IIGS Sales Demo to the 'What is the Apple IIGS?' archive. <a title="Apple IIGS Sales Demo" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/apple-iigs-sales-demo/" target="_blank">And who am I to argue?</a></p> Thu, 25 Jul 2013 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/kansasfest-begins-again-as-does-ozkfest-sweet-16-v3-0-released-iigs-sales-demo-added/ OzKFest – Quick Report http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/ozkfest-quick-report/ <p>Well, I'm back in Melbourne after spending a glorious weekend in Brisbane in the company of other fans of the Apple II. It was loads of fun, not to mention a novel way to talk about one of your passions to others in flesh, instead of just online. The tyranny of distance was conquered!</p> <p>It was especially great to finally meet Willie Yeo after 20 years of off and on again online correspondence and he brought LOADS of his collection to scan (a big thanks to OzKFest organiser Steve Kazoullis for providing his scanner!). Whatever couldn't be scanned during the bustle of the weekend, Willie was happy for me to take certain items back to Melbourne to scan (the Lost Treasures of Infocom, including documentation from every classic text adventure they created, is going to require a LOT of time to scan. As is the giant sized manual for Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing!). Primarily though, I was able to scan a few more disk labels thanks to Willie's collection, so the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/you-can-help/#disk_label_scans">list of yet to be scanned disk labels</a>&nbsp;has gotten a little bit smaller.</p> <p>Something of particular note was something that Willie gave me (because he still had another 14 shrink-wrapped copies of it!) was the newer version of <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/reader-rabbit/">Reader Rabbit</a>&nbsp;(v2.3). Our family bought <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/reader-rabbit/">Reader Rabbit</a>&nbsp;soon after we got our IIGS in 1987, and it's the original IIGS version (v2.0). So to my delight upon trying v2.3 out, it seems to launchable from the Finder and System 6 now. It also includes a hard drive installer application, however, I tried this on my ROM01 IIGS with CFFA3000 and the program said it couldn't find a hard drive. It did the same on Sweet 16 (and the program isn't compatible beyond the main menu unfortunately within this emulator). Not sure what could be causing this (maybe it can't handle the newer lowercase character support introduced in System 5?), but I'll investigate further, as I love nothing more than hard drive (or large volume) installable programs. In the meantime though, I've updated the archive for <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/reader-rabbit/">Reader Rabbit</a>&nbsp;and included the new version in the 2image archive you can download.</p> <p>Something else I borrowed from Willie has some good stuff in it too &ndash; some de-protects and hacks for IIGS games and apps I didn't have previously. I thought it would be a couple disks worth of stuff I already have, but most of these cracks and patches are different from ones previously archived. I've copied them to the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/Sports_and_Unreleased_Games.zip">Sports and Unreleased Games 32 meg volume</a>, in the 'Game Utils' folder. Included with that was a cute icon for <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/gnarly-golf/">Gnarly Golf</a>, which I've added to this volume. I haven't played with it myself yet, but the most promising item in there is a hard drive installer for the game <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/questron-ii/">Questron 2</a>, which even allows you to save games to hard drive, making a save game disk no longer required.</p> <p class="image left" style="width: 640;">&nbsp;</p> <p class="image left" style="width: 512;"><img title="5 Displays on a IIGS!" src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/OZKFest2013/_resampled/ResizedImage512384-IIGSw5Displays.jpg" alt="5 Displays on a IIGS!" width="512" height="384" /></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Another addition to the site I've added after OzKFest is the hardware diagnostics for the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/apple-video-overlay-card/">Apple II Video Overlay Card</a>. Both&nbsp;Alex Lukacz and Andrew Roughan brought their VOCs to the event and we tried getting some genlocked video action happening, but to no avail. We believe both of the VOCs on hand are NTSC models, while the video we were trying to pass through was PAL. Regardless, the diagnostics and the New Desk Accessory (NDA) for the IIGS helped troubleshoot the matter. We did however do perhaps what no-one else has done before &ndash; attach 8 displays to a single IIGS (although the photo above only reveals 5 working), thanks to the built in RGB and composite outputs, a Second Sight card, a VOC, and a Carte Blanche prototype with HDMI output card. Scans for the Carte Blanche will be appearing soon on this site.</p> <p>A more comprehensive report will be written for all the weekend's happenings soon by event organiser Steve Kazoullis, but as a brief overview we covered presentations as diverse as virtual machines, the cc65 cross compiler, near field communications, a 16 meg RAM card for the IIe (the ScramWorks!), better scanning techniques (who might have presented that?) as well as making your own SAM speech synthesis&nbsp;card, programming music in Integer BASIC, converting a standard Apple 1 meg IIGS RAM to hold 4 meg, controlling a robot with your II, physical floppy drive emulation and a demo of The Complex III turn based online role playing game for the IIGS, plus more. I got to see how Kim Howe's FTP NDA is progressing and it's coming along beautifully. And it was fun coming face to face with many at KansasFest! Nice to be able to wave to Brian Wiser! :-)</p> Mon, 29 Jul 2013 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/ozkfest-quick-report/ More OzKFest Goodies http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/more-ozkfest-goodies/ <p>Here are some more post OzKFest goodies: Andrew Roughan suggested I include third party toolsets on the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/System_Addons.zip">System Add-ons volume</a>&nbsp;(originally featured in my &lsquo;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/system-extensions-or-create-your-killer-gs-os-environment/">System Extensions...</a>' blog). I assembled all I could find, including Andrew's own Crypto toolset (tool number 129), as well as Geoff Weiss's HashTool (128), as well as the SoundSmith and NoiseTracker tools (219 and 220 respectively), along with Clay's Music Tool (which will enable playback of Music Studio, SoundSmith and SynthLab) as well as some tools to render animation, including Pegasoft's DrawTools (Tool 98) and Parik Rao's FastAnim tool. Now also includes Ewen Wannop's HTML Tool and Tim Meekins' ZPack tools, which I previously missed but Andrew took into account.</p> <p>Collecting these toolsets has meant finding some space on the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/System_Addons.zip">System Add-ons 32 meg volume</a>, so I've moved the Font Utilities and Icon Editors folders onto the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/Audio_and_Utilities.zip">Audio &amp; Utilities volume</a>, in the &lsquo;SW.Utils' folder. That's now meant there's not enough space on the Audio &amp; Utilities volume, so I've moved some folders from that to a completely new volume called <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/Graphics_n_Animation.zip">Graphics and Animation</a>. This volume now has all the graphic viewers (including those for the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/second-sight/">Second Sight card</a>) to view images and animation, as well as the extra modules to screen savers <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/twilight-ii-v1-1/">Twilight II</a>&nbsp;and Phantasm. The new images also includes loads of classic super hi-res graphics and animation, as well as the 3 Pixel Joint slideshows in one mega slideshow.</p> <p>I would have liked to have converted all the imagery to the Apple Preferred format which offers decent compression and maximum compatibility across viewers and paint programs, although I was tiring of having to manually re-save from other formats...does anyone know if there's any way to batch convert on the IIGS? Brutal Deluxe's &lsquo;Convert to DG' utiility (included) converts Dream Grafix format in batches, but is it possible to convert existing imagery to Apple Preferred automatically?</p> <p>In short, download the 2 revised 32 meg volumes (<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/System_Addons.zip">System Add-ons</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/Audio_and_Utilities.zip">Audio &amp; Utilities</a>) as well as the new <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/Graphics_n_Animation.zip">Graphics and Animation 32 meg volume</a>&nbsp;so you're up to date with what's been available before and getting access to some new content.</p> <p>Going through the disks i've got on loan from Willie Yeo, I've come across specific software for the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/datalink-1200-or-2400/">Applied Engineering internal modem, the DataLink</a>. Get ready to fire up your time machine so you can log back into some BBS action!</p> <p>Andrew Roughan's also got <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/10917598@N06/sets/72157634870192641">his photos up from OzKFest on Flickr</a>!</p> <p>Additionally, Andrew's put some videos from OzKFest on YouTube, where we quite possibly broke the world record for the biggest number of monitors hooked up to a single Apple IIGS:</p> <p><a title="Apple IIGS Driving 7 Displays" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aj86w4RrYEY" target="_blank">Apple IIGS Driving 7 Displays</a></p> <p><a title="Apple IIGS displaying 3200 mode on multiple displays" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cN-PfO6GaRE" target="_blank">Apple IIGS displaying 3200 mode on multiple displays</a></p> <p><a title="Apple IIGS displaying DHGR &amp;amp; HGR graphics on Carte Blanche and SecondSight" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3RoaIBP5Ro" target="_blank">Apple IIGS displaying DHGR &amp; HGR graphics on Carte Blanche and SecondSight</a></p> <p><a title="Apple IIGS Carte Blanche demo with HDMI output in 320x200 mode" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C42csT9HEpk" target="_blank">Apple IIGS Carte Blanche demo with HDMI output in 320x200 mode</a></p> <p><a title="Apple IIGS driving 8 displays" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEi8feqXc-4" target="_blank">Apple IIGS driving 8 displays</a></p> <p>Speaking of YouTube the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/EveryAppleAds">Every Apple Ads</a>&nbsp;channel has been very busy lately. So busy, in fact, that they've even slipped through some IIGS TV commercials from the mid-to-late &lsquo;80s in between all the Mac adverts. Some of them I haven't seen before now and chances are if you have seen them it would have been when they were broadcast between episodes of Family Ties and the Cosby Show.</p> <p><a title="Apple II ad feat. Andrea Barber (Full House) - Never Put Off Until Tomorrow (1987)" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qh-MbuhJtHU" target="_blank">Apple II ad feat. Andrea Barber (Full House) - Never Put Off Until Tomorrow (1987)</a></p> <p><a title="Apple II ad featuring Jenifer Graham - Frog (1987)" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhwWuLlzBpI" target="_blank">Apple II ad featuring Jenifer Graham - Frog (1987)</a></p> <p><a title="Apple IIgs ad - Share (1987)" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeigeKIH6TM" target="_blank">Apple IIgs ad - Share (1987)</a></p> <p><a title="Apple IIgs ad - Experts (1986)" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pOjZBmf8js" target="_blank">Apple IIgs ad - Experts (1986)</a></p> <p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiKvRsSGxCo">Apple IIgs ad - Dual Mind (1986)</a>&nbsp;- This has been doing the rounds for a while now from an old postage stamp size QuickTime movie, but this is higher quality (albeit from VHS!)</p> <p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mu2Nq7rEs2E">The Making of Apple's IIgs "Dual Mind" ad (1986)</a>&nbsp;- This is the icing on the cake. A very rare insight into how this TVC was made. Great concept and even more amazing execution!</p> Fri, 02 Aug 2013 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/more-ozkfest-goodies/ Educational Software Updates Via California http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/educational-software-updates-via-california/ <p>Welcome to the first of some fairly hefty content updates -&nbsp;this edition focusing on Educational software.</p> <p>In September I made a trip to California to take up Tony Diaz's offer from the End of Year Open Apple Podcast Wrap Up from 2011 -&nbsp;to help sort his collection.</p> <p>And that we did...finding a multitude of things not previously archived:</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/reading-magic-flodd-the-bad-guy/">Reading Magic -&nbsp;Flodd the Bad Guy</a>. I always enjoyed <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/reading-magic-jack-the-beanstalk/">Reading Magic Jack and the Beanstalk</a>, and was very happy to come across Flodd the Bad Guy, the other title in this series, released for the IIGS...officially too, as I found an original disk, because apart from that, there's been next to no information that it was ever released for the IIGS.</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/astronomergs/">AstronomerGS</a>&nbsp;-&nbsp;not a commercial program, but a 7 disk shareware epic that requires some files be on the boot volume, so you're best left to install this yourselves than for me to include on one of the 32meg volumes found on the home page.</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/base-ten-blocks/">Base Ten Blocks</a>&nbsp;Demo -&nbsp;nothing much more than a random curio, the Base10 Demo seems to be an educational proof of concept with multiple games attached. This demo only includes one working module. I don't know if the developer, Mike Gralish, ever got this concept any further.</p> <p>Alas, I didn't find anything more that was IIGS specific. Such is the way with educational software - as I've said before&nbsp;it is definitely the hardest category to archive, unfortunately, because I don't think it was ever &lsquo;cool' to crack and collect. It's ironic given the major reason the Apple II was still around as late as it was due to the education sector. But there's a little more IIGS goodness coming &ndash; more on that later.</p> <p>But, that leaves a lot more content for my other educational priority -&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/8-bit-educational-on-3-5-disk/">8-bit Apple II software on 3.5" disk</a>. Here are the new inclusions:</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/word-attack-plus-spanish/">Word Attack Plus! Spanish</a>&nbsp;(I've been wanting to get my hands on educational warez for learning other languages. Comes with a scan of the box too! Thanks to Antoine for removing the protection!)</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/electric-crayon/">Electric Crayon</a>&nbsp;(the archive held a good collection of pictures for kids to colour in before, but it's now even bigger (possibly even complete) and is still on a single 3.5" disk -&nbsp;only for IIGS users though, sadly)</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/story-starters-social-studies/">Story Starters Social Studies</a>&nbsp;(another in the series by Pelican Software for youngsters to create scenes to themes)</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/cross-country-usa/">Cross Country USA</a>&nbsp;(a game that'll teach U.S. geography)</p> <p><a title="Sensible Speller" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/sensible-speller/" target="_blank">Sensible Spelling</a></p> <p><a title="Sensible Grammar" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/sensible-grammar/" target="_blank">Sensible Grammar</a></p> <p><a title="Report Card" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/report-card/" target="_blank">Report Card</a></p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/monsters-make-believe/">Monsters &amp; Make Believe</a>... now in Spanish, as well as English!</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/stickybear-town-builder/">Stickybear Town Builder</a>&nbsp;(who needs SimCity GS?), and other Optimum Resource / Weekly Reader Software non-Stickybear titles: <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/map-skills/">Map Skills</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/punctuation-rules/">Punctuation Rules</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/sentence-fun/">Sentence Fun</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/spelling-rules/">Spelling Rules</a>.</p> <p>As usual, however, I've discovered there are still more releases in this series to make it complete in regards to disk images: <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/reading-comprehension/">Reading Comprehension</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/math-word-problems/">Math Word Problems</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/vocabulary-development/">Vocabulary Development</a>&nbsp;(for which we've now got box scans at least) and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/car-builder/">Car Builder</a>. Incidentally, I didn't know Stickybear software was still being made and sold.&nbsp;<a href="http://www.stickybear.com">Did you?</a></p> <p>Which also leads onto a couple more rare titles on 3.5" that would be worth having: <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/where-in-the-world-is-carmen-sandiego-8-bit/">Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/where-in-the-usa-is-carmen-sandiego-8-bit/">Where in the USA is Carmen Sandiego?</a>&nbsp;are available on 3.5" disk in their 8-bit form, as seen in later Broderbund catalogues.</p> <p>Now, back to the IIGS specific stuff. I did find another copy of <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/inner-body-works/">Inner Body Works</a>&nbsp;at Tony's -&nbsp;imaged it, hoping this copy would work, but alas, another dud. Or was it? Although I thought I had already tested it on a real IIGS, turns out the program simply refuses to run either under Sweet 16, Bernie ][ the Rescue or KEGS/ActiveGS/GSPort, citing a ProDOS error occurred; perhaps that wasn't the only problem. The program would also hang entering either the tour or game segments, even though the second disk was already mounted. Oddly, I found, that if you actually don't have the 2nd disk mounted, a dialogue will appear asking you to insert it, after which, the game seems to work. Following the hard drive install options that Club 96 includes on disk, after doing that, it works from a hard drive. At least the Junior Edition does. But the only difference I've found between Junior and Senior editions is that the silhouette graphic of the body you're exploring the innards of changes. No big deal.</p> <p>So, we do have a working copy of <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/inner-body-works/">Inner Body Works</a>&nbsp;now, preinstalled on the &lsquo;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/Social_History_and_Computers.zip">Science, Social Studies, Kids Creative, Computer Skills</a>' 32 meg volume, as well as individual disk images.</p> <p>Also, I recently found to my chagrin that <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/math-blaster-plus-iigs/">Math Blaster Plus! IIGS</a>&nbsp;wouldn't work from its 32 meg image (<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/Reading_Writing_and_Maths.zip">Reading, Writing and Mathematics</a>) I went back to the hard drive installer program on the original disk and tried again...it crashed every time you tried to install to a volume other than the boot - how annoying. So I temporarily copied over a System folder to the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/Reading_Writing_and_Maths.zip">Reading, Writing and Mathematics</a>&nbsp;volume, booted from that, and ran the installer again. It worked...for the most part. You can now launch and play the game but when you go to quit, the IIGS crashes with a weird memory trash error...even though if you play it from the 3.5" floppy, it doesn't do this. Sigh. The things I do to try to make things nicer from larger ProDOS volumes for you people...</p> <p>Also as part of my own collection, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/reading-and-me-8-bit/">Reading and Me (8-bit)</a>, the 8-bit version on 3.5" disk &ndash; Antoine's cracked that one too :-)</p> <p>Well, that about wraps it up for the time being. I'll be making more updates available in the hardware, games and applications field after my time in California, so stay tuned.</p> Wed, 20 Nov 2013 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/educational-software-updates-via-california/ Newly Archived Hardware & Drivers http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/newly-archived-hardware-drivers/ <p>As part of my archiving efforts amongst Tony Diaz's collection, I also came across some interesting hardware:</p> <p>At last, I found not one but two <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/lightingscan/">Thunderware Lightning Scanners</a>&nbsp;&ndash; I'd never seen them in the flesh before and they seem much rarer than Quickie scanners if eBay has been any judge over the years. So now we have complete scans of the Lightning Scanner itself, the interface card, the software drivers and the manual (which <a href="http://www.brutaldeluxe.fr/">Antoine</a>&nbsp;has been able to supply previously).</p> <p>I also scanned in my own <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/quickie/">Quickie</a>&nbsp;interface card, so the real hardware boffins out there can compare the difference between the makes of card for these hand-held scanners.</p> <p>We've got quite a few new drivers for hardware cards too:</p> <p>The <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/visionary-gs/">VisionaryGS</a>&nbsp;archive now contains a plethora of utility software with multiple versions to use with these cards to digitise video in.</p> <p>For the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/sonic-blaster/">Sonic Blaster</a>, I've disk imaged v1.1 of the software to play, capture and edit audio with this Applied Engeineering card (the one I had back in the day!). I don't know what the .1 updates adds features or fixes, but it's nice to have both v1.0 and v1.1 in the archive now.</p> <p>For the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/lancegs/">LANCeGS</a>, we've got the complete drivers and utility disk. Handy if you're lucky to come across one of these rare ethernet cards for the IIGS.</p> <p>We've also got a bunch of RAM card specific diagnostics and utlities programs, for the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/gs-ram/">RAM-GS</a>, the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/cirtech-plus-ram/">Cirtech Plus RAM</a>, and the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/rampak-4gs/">Orange Micro RAMPak</a>. I don't know whether these utilities are mandatory for diagnostics of these specific cards (not having them to test), as other RAM checking programs are available, but they're here all the same. Some of these disk images include utilities other than just diagnostics, so if you have some of these rarer RAM cards, then they might just allow you to do that bit more with them.</p> <p>Last but not least, I've also included the 640x400 graphics mode test with the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/apple-video-overlay-card/">Apple Video Overlay Card</a>&nbsp;software. Apparently it includes a slideshow of images at the 640x400 graphics mode the VOC was capable of &ndash; have fun playing with it you lucky VOC owners!</p> <p>If you'd like to download all these new drivers in one hit, simply download the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/Hardware_Apps.zip">Hardware 32meg ProDOS volume</a>&nbsp;(also available from the home page at the bottom).</p> <p>In other news, Brutal Deluxe have included new compression <a href="http://www.brutaldeluxe.fr/products/crossdevtools/lz4/">LZ4 algorithm</a>&nbsp;in their Cross Tools Development Project, with some terrific results on how well LZ4 decompresses super fast on the IIGS, but offering very nicely compressed file sizes at the same time. The trick is most of the work is done at the compression stage of the process, which is fast anyway given that it occurs on the Windows side of things.&nbsp;</p> <p>Also, be sure to grab the latest update to <a href="http://sheppyware.net/software-mac/sweet16/">Sweet 16</a>, version 3.0.2 &ndash; it fixes the nasty crashing bug that almost always happened when you quit the emulator in OS X.</p> Sun, 08 Dec 2013 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/newly-archived-hardware-drivers/ Gaming Update Bonanza! http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/gaming-update-bonanza/ <p>Hot on the heels of the educational and hardware related finds made amongst Tony Diaz's collection, we now turn our attention to gaming related finds -&nbsp;and there's quite a lot of new cool stuff archived.</p> <p>Firstly, I've found a English language version of <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/bouncing-bluster-ii/">Bouncing Bluster II v2.0.3</a>. I've always liked Bouncing Bluster, but it's always had a few kinks &ndash; this new find fixes a few things, but adds some new ones. The updated version of the IIGS only <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/arkanoid/">Arkanoid</a>&nbsp;clone can be found in its own <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/bouncing-bluster-ii/">separate archive</a>, with more information, or with the original BBI levels on the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/Games_with_Path_Mods.zip">Games with Path Modifications 32 meg volume</a>.</p> <p>Another great find, and amazing I've not come across it until now, is a IIGS specific freeware version of <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/wheel-of-fortune/">Wheel of Fortune</a>. My imagination would usually get the better of me reading the summaries of programs appearing in the single column adverts for Public Domain Exchange listings in <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/a-magazine/">A+ magazines</a>, but I always thought the description for <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/wheel-of-fortune/">Wheel of Fortune</a>&nbsp;sounded cool. And you know what...it is! For a freeware title, it includes fantastic graphics and sound and it all plays smoothly. It was created in BASIC but using all the IIGS enhancements that <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/iconix/">Iconix</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/sonix/">Sonix</a>&nbsp;provides -&nbsp;right down to Vanna White's fashion constantly changing thanks to clever use of multiple palettes. It even uses some elaborate border effects! Love it!</p> <p>One note however is that it doesnt't run under Sweet 16 -&nbsp;it will always crash if you attempt to use it on the venerable OS X based emulator. Under KEGS / GSPort / ActiveGS on the other hand, it performs OK, but mouse control doesn't quite calibrate to the screen in a window. I don't believe the game can be run from System 6 either, or be hard drive installable.</p> <p>Another <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/iconix/">Iconix</a>&nbsp;based game I found was Pentominoes. Not as good as <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/wheel-of-fortune/">Wheel of Fortune</a>, but another good example of what could be done with BASIC and Iconix. Were any more of these Iconix developed games available? So What Software's offerings certainly would have given more opportunity to use IIGS specific features combined with tried and true BASIC programming skills.</p> <p>Another great find was an alternative version of <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/aaargh-/">Aaargh!</a>&nbsp;This one doesn't require a sector edit of it's hard coded path like I'd already provided on the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/Games_with_Path_Mods.zip">Games with Path Modifications volume</a>. The new version resides there as well now (there isn't room for it on the 'Action' games volume!). I haven't compared the two different versions extensively, but there may be other differences between them if it was an official update to the program to allow hard drive installation.</p> <p>Another interesting oddity was finding v2.0 of <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/jigsaw/">Jigsaw</a>. The executable's file size is slightly bigger than the previous version (35k over 20k) and offers an &lsquo;Erase Records' option, but I've been unable to find anything else different about this newer version. It might have included bug fixes? Anyway, it's available via the Jigsaw archive as well as the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/Board_Games_and_RPGs.zip">Board Games and RPGs 32 meg volume</a>.</p> <p>Also found was a <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/neuromancer-demo/">self running demo for cyberpunk classic game Neuromancer</a>. I'm surprised this freebie wasn't distributed more to help better promote this Interplay title. It's pretty cool watching the self running demo of the game unfold...reminds me of <a href="http://www.brutaldeluxe.fr/products/apple2gs/opale.html">Brutal Deluxe's Opale Demo</a>&nbsp;:-)</p> <p>I found even more game demos. <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/tower-of-myraglen-demo/">The Tower of Myraglen Demo</a>&nbsp;includes the same intro as the real game and some teasers of game play. California Dreams' <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/vegas-gambler-demo/">Vegas Gambler</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/vegas-craps-demo/">Vegas Craps</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/club-backgammon-demo/">Club Backgammon</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/triango-demo/">Triango</a>&nbsp;demos were also found -&nbsp;the last two demonstrate gameplay very nicely with self running demos -&nbsp;the Vegas give you a measley amount of money to play with before the demos quit.</p> <p>I discovered all these game demos on disks with officially printed labels -&nbsp;must have been handed out at AppleFest or other shows. Strangely, for the most part, they don't seem to work with Sweet 16 and bomb out to the menu presented when quitting a PrODOS 16 app. Even weirder is that I haven't come across these before and that they weren't distributed round BBSs back in the day (at least the ones I frequented).</p> <p>I've got some nice box scans of some unreleased titles for the IIGS -&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/sdi/">SDI</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/puzznic/">Puzznic</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/ums-2-nations-at-war/">UMS II</a>&nbsp;- Nations at War. Tony had kept these MS-DOS versions all these years! If only the IIGS versions would show up for more unreleased/rumoured titles...sigh.</p> <p>And if that wasn't enough, I even threw in the box from the Mac version of <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/lemmings/">Lemmings</a>&nbsp;coming across that at Tony's -&nbsp;given the IIGS version was never blessed with a box. Speaking of Brutal Deluxe titles, Antoine pointed out to me that I'd forgotten an archive entry to their game&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/blockade/">Blockade</a>&nbsp;&ndash; how did I miss that one?! It now has it's own dedicated <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/blockade/">archive</a>.</p> <p>Last but not least in terms of new software, I found a shareware text adventure game not previously archived: &lsquo;Paranoia', and it can be found in &lsquo;More.Shareware' on the Sports &amp; Unreleased 32 meg volume.</p> <p>We've also got a TONNE of new manuals, meaning we're VERY close to having every manual for every IIGS commercial game ever made. New additions are:</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/airball/">Airball</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/club-backgammon/">Club Backgammon</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/dark-castle/">Dark Castle</a>&nbsp;(Errata), <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/space-fox/">Space Fox</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/futureshock-3d/">Futureshock 3D</a>&nbsp;(More a letter from the developer with hints and tips), <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/grand-prix-circuit/">Grand Prix Circuit</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/roadwar-2000/">Roadwar 2000</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/world-tour-golf/">World Tour Golf</a>.</p> <p>Antoine's eagle eyes have also spotted gaps in the collection and he's managed to obtain boxed copies of <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/questmaster-i/">Quest Master I</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/mean-18/">Mean 18 Famous Courses vol IV</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/jack-nicklaus-greatest-18-holes-of-major-championship-golf/">Jack Nicklaus Golf International Course disk</a>&nbsp;and submitted manuals for those titles as well (As well as the box and disk label for the International course-disk).</p> <p>Before we get into talk of 8-bit Apple II game stuff, it must be said that Brian Picchi has done the amazing again and created a new game, written in assembly, called <a href="http://tanrunomad.com/assembly-games/">Lamb Chops</a>. Happy NEW gaming days are here again!</p> <p>We've also got a quite a few new inclusions in the 8-bit games released on 3.5" disk. First up, is <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/clue-master-detective/">Clue: Master Detective</a>. This is a rather well designed game and makes very sensible use of the old school Apple II hi-res mode to produce nicely styled graphics and text. And it's got a self running to demo -&nbsp;love having those as screen savers!</p> <p>Another interesting find was the discovery that the original <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/ancient-art-of-war/">Ancient Art of War</a>&nbsp;was also officially released on 3.5" disk by Broderbund. Unfortunately, we weren't able to make a successful disk image from Tony's collection, but now we know it's out there -&nbsp;if you've got copies of this game, boxed or otherwise, check if you've got the 3.5" disk version, make a disk image and submit it to the archive. There's nothing better than not being distracted from disk swapping while you're enjoying a game!</p> <p>Another great find is a complete boxed edition of <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/who-framed-roger-rabbit/">Who Framed Roger Rabbit</a>, for which I scanned the box and more importantly, the manual -&nbsp;you need to refer to the manual after finishing the first part of the game -&nbsp;the developers sneakily included a word look-up protection routine there instead of at the beginning of the game.</p> <p>Also available for the first time in the Apple II world (as far as I know), is the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/the-bard-s-tale-iii/">Bard's Tale III</a>&nbsp;official Cluebook! That should help sort out your troubles with the Mad God Trajan. Also included now is a scan of the wonderful artwork of the packaging.</p> <p>I also came across some other classic 8-bit games <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/bard-s-tale-tass-times-ogre/">hacked to run from 3.5" disk</a>&nbsp;-&nbsp;including the original Bard's tale, Tass Times in Tonetown and OGRE - all on the same volume. Those of you with a IIc+ might want to check out this disk -&nbsp;I'll stick to the IIGS specific versions myself (OGRE excluded).</p> <p>I also came across the re-release of <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/ultima-i-8-bit-re-release/">Ultima I</a>&nbsp;on a single 3.5" disk. Also, another Origin title, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/space-rogue/">Space Rogue</a>&nbsp;on two 3.5" disks. I also found a 3.5" disk installer for the rather large RPG <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/knights-of-legend/">Knights of Legend</a>, however trying it both on a real IIGS (with CFFA3000) and under emulation, I couldn't get it to work. It'd be pretty sweet to have a 3.5" disk version of this game, as it came on NINE single sided 5.25" floppies! Any IIc+ user motivated for the task to get more convenient gaming out of this unique Apple II? IIGS users would benefit as well, of course :-) I've included a .zip archive for <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/knights-of-legend/">Knights of Legend</a>, including the 3.5" disk installer image and available 5.25" disk images from Asimov (which I renamed for easier recognition).</p> <p>Russ Ross wrote in about the John Carmack game <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/wraith/">Wraith -&nbsp;Devil's Demise</a>. He's provided a fresh copy of the game that should work hassle free for non-IIGS machines. Additionally, he's also created terrific maps of the world in Wraith, which can be found from his <a href="http://www.russross.com/Wraith">site</a>.</p> <p>P.S. If you're looking for news for the last three years (as the buttons on the right hand side only go up to 2009)...</p> <p><a title="2013" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2013" target="_blank">2013</a></p> <p><a title="2012" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2012" target="_blank">2012</a></p> <p><a title="2011" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2011" target="_blank">2011</a></p> <p><a title="2010" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2010" target="_blank">2010</a></p> <div><br /></div> Sat, 11 Jan 2014 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/gaming-update-bonanza/ Record Winning Bids on IIGS Games on eBay http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/record-winning-bids-on-iigs-games-on-ebay/ <p>In the space of a week, not just once, but twice have we seen new record amounts paid for winning bids on IIGS games at auction on eBay.</p> <p>Firstly, $203.50 for the unheard of game&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ebay.com/itm/310896795539?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&amp;ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT">The Gem Of Zephyrr,</a>&nbsp;was won at auction. This is an RPG that's quite possibly entirely text based, but none-the-less released as a IIGS specific program. I was never aware of it, although Antoine has since found information on this title and others by author Eric Seiden and <a href="http://www.darsys.net/dsi.html">DAR Systems</a>. We'll keep you posted if we discover anything more about this title and others by DAR Systems.</p> <p>Secondly, <a href="http://www.ebay.com/itm/161247751589?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&amp;ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT">Mighty Marvel Vs the Forces of Evil showed up on eBay</a>&nbsp;for the first time I've been keeping tabs on IIGS software for sale on the largest online auction house in the world for the last 12 years, and this has never come up. Seems I'm not the only one who knew this as the winning bid was $453.00. Easily the highest amount of money paid for a IIGS game I've ever seen.</p> <p>I hope the new owners of both games are willing and able to scan the covers, disks and manuals for posterity and archiving for all to enjoy.</p> <p>In other news, I apologise for the lack of updates to What is the Apple IIGS?, despite there being much content to add. I now have a new job (or two new jobs) teaching graphic design at technical college and working as a freelance graphic designer, and it's been requiring almost all of my attention. Stay tuned though, I plan to get updates to the site out sooner rather than later.</p> Sun, 23 Mar 2014 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/record-winning-bids-on-iigs-games-on-ebay/ Questron II now fully playable from a Hard Drive (or any large volume ProDOS partition) http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/questron-ii-now-fully-playable-from-a-hard-drive-or-any-large-volume-prodos-partition/ <p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-family: Verdana;">In the pursuit of being able to prepare every IIGS application, game or educational software to run from a hard drive / large ProDOS volume, I've been able to add another one to the list - <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/questron-ii/">Questron II</a>. This <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/role-playing-games/">RPG</a>&nbsp;from 1988 was converted stylishly to the IIGS by none other than Westwood Associates and now can be fully enjoyed from a physical hard drive or CFFA3000, CFFA v1 / v2, MicroDrive, Focus, etc, removing the necessity of it running from a 3.5" disk or image.</p> <p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-family: Verdana;">Thanks to <a href="http://www.brutaldeluxe.fr">Antoine</a>&nbsp;for checking his archives for v1.1 of the Questron II executable (the newer version fixes a very damaging hard drive wiping bug as reported by <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/a-magazine/">A+ Magazine</a>&nbsp;back in the day) and thanks be to Vince Andrews (way back in 1991) for writing an easy to follow method of installing the program to any ProDOS volume, as well as including a classic desk accessory for modifying character attributes. You no longer have to use a separate character disk, as that info, along with save games, are also stored in the 'Questron.II' folder on the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/Games_with_Path_Mods.zip">Games with Path Modifications 32 meg volume</a>&nbsp;- so download that to get the modified version. I've also updated the individual <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/questron-ii/">floppy disk archive</a>&nbsp;on the WITA2GS? Last but not least, I added an icon for the game as well (appearing on the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/Games_with_Path_Mods.zip">Games with Path Modifications volume</a>).</p> <p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-family: Verdana;">Stay tuned for more content updates! And remember, if you've got a hard drive installable version of a game, app or educational program that WITA2GS? doesn't have, be sure to <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/submit-news/">write in</a>.</p> Sun, 13 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/questron-ii-now-fully-playable-from-a-hard-drive-or-any-large-volume-prodos-partition/ Gaming Manuals Added For The Lost Treasures of Infocom, Halls of Montezuma, The Black Cauldron, John Elway's Quarterback and Superstar Ice Hockey http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/gaming-manuals-added-for-the-lost-treasures-of-infocom-halls-of-montezuma-the-black-cauldron-john-elway-s-quarterback-and-superstar-ice-hockey/ <p>There's been a backlog of scanned manuals from Antoine Vignau, most generous man in the Apple II universe, that I've had a hard time sorting due to lack of time in my behalf. But here's some of them now for you to enjoy.</p> <p>Firstly, there's the documentation to the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/lost-treasures-of-infocom/">Lost Treasures of Infocom</a>&nbsp;- a HUGE set of manuals, given this includes all of the classic Infocom text adventures. For most games, a separate map PDF has been included as well. Not included, however, is the Hints book that included solutions to ALL the games included in the collection, which I'll need some time to scan myself, as the TWO copies of the game Antoine bought were missing! In the meantime, you could always find walkthroughs for these games via Google of course.</p> <p>Next, there's the manual for <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/halls-of-montezuma/">Halls of Montezuma</a>, which replaces the existing manual I had for the 8-bit version. I've pieced together the separate scans Antoine made of the maps, but they don't perfectly align, but you'll get the idea looking at it.</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/black-cauldron/">The Black Cauldron</a>&nbsp;gets the full documentation treatment as part of its archive now.</p> <p>And last but not least, two sporting titles, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/john-elway-s-quarterback/">John Elway's Quarterback</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/superstar-ice-hockey/">Superstar Ice Hockey</a>&nbsp;are now fully documented with their original manuals (and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/you-can-help/#disk_label_scans">disk labels</a>&nbsp;as well - thanks again Antoine!).</p> Thu, 17 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/gaming-manuals-added-for-the-lost-treasures-of-infocom-halls-of-montezuma-the-black-cauldron-john-elway-s-quarterback-and-superstar-ice-hockey/ How Many Apple IIGS Went into Production? You Can Help Find Out the Answer! http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/how-many-apple-iigs-went-into-production-you-can-help-find-out-the-answer/ <p>Apple kept sales of their machines fairly close to their chest in the 80s, at least with the Apple IIGS - although it's been said the IIGS outsold the Mac in its first year of production, I've never found where that claim comes from. If we wanted to talk hard numbers of just how many IIGS machines were made from 1986 to 1993, we're just as in the dark.</p> <p>Antoine and Olivier of Brutal Deluxe are trying to make an educated guess at an estimate by looking at the serial numbers of IIGS models from as many people as possible. The more people submit the serials numbers from the bottom of the cases of their IIGS specimens, the more accurate Antoine can determine how many IIGS were sold overall and by what year.</p> <p>The serial number of each IIGS can be broken down like this:</p> <p>E : Factory code (E=Singapore, CK=Cork Ireland, ...) <br />7 : Year of production (7=1987, 8=1988, 9=1989, 0=1990, 1=1991...) <br />49 : Week number (01-52) <br />YJA : current # / based on units built this week <br />A2S6000 : Apple IIgs code</p> <p>See how are favourite French duo are fairing with their current list of <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AiZOz6GbGMJudE81b3M3Y0VKWjl2MFlOX05EQUsxdHc&amp;usp=drive_web#gid=1">serial numbers</a>. Be sure to check out all the spreadsheet tabs on Google Docs at the bottom of the page.</p> <p>This is the <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AiZOz6GbGMJudE81b3M3Y0VKWjl2MFlOX05EQUsxdHc&amp;usp=drive_web#gid=8">current estimate of the total number of IIGS produced</a>.</p> <p>You can help come up with a more accurate estimate by emailing your IIGS serial numbers to (spam filter following) sn at brutaldeluxe dot fr.</p> Thu, 24 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/how-many-apple-iigs-went-into-production-you-can-help-find-out-the-answer/ 8-Bit 3.5" Disk Additions: Neuromancer, Death Sword, SSi Collection 1 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/8-bit-3-5-disk-additions-neuromancer-death-sword-ssi-collection/ <p>Joo Jun emailed me to say he'd found some additional 8-bit games on 3.5" disk: <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/neuromancer-8-bit/">Neuromancer</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/death-sword/">Death Sword</a>&nbsp;(otherwise known as Barbarian in Europe) and a homebrew collection of some classic <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/strategic-simulations-inc-collection/">Strategic Simulations Inc. games</a>&nbsp;rolled onto a single 800k volume. Nice to see some more unexpected additions to this category of games, making play easier on a IIc+, IIGS or any other Apple II equipped with a 3.5" disk drive. Be sure to read each archives' notes for more information about each game, but between all three, another nice addition is that they seem to work from ANY large ProDOS volume as well!</p> <p>In addition to these new archives, <a href="http://tanrunomad.com">Brian Picchi</a>&nbsp;has submitted a scan for <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/clue-master-detective/">Clue Master Detective</a>&nbsp;for this category as well. In preparing this archive, I've accidentally stumbled upon the manual, as scanned by <a href="http://www.apple-iigs.info/home.php">Arnaud Brossard</a>&nbsp;when we swapped the content of our archives some years ago. Hooray!</p> <p>Also, we now at last have a truely 8-bit friendly version of <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/rampage/">Rampage</a>&nbsp;on 3.5" disk - I was inundated with new copies of the game to replace the IIGS only crack by the French United Cracker's Klan, by Rob, Antoine and another copy I found at Tony Diaz's. Either way, you'll quite happily play this game on a IIc+ or any other Apple II equipped with a 3.5" disk drive.</p> <p>Thanks Joo Jun, Brian, Rob, Antoine, Tony and Arnaud!</p> Sat, 26 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/8-bit-3-5-disk-additions-neuromancer-death-sword-ssi-collection/ Shufflepuck Cafe Now ROM03 Compatible! http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/shufflepuck-cafe-now-rom03-compatible/ <p>Antoine and Olivier have done it again! The boys of Brutal Deluxe have been able to patch the unreleased IIGS version of <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/shufflepuck-cafe/">Shufflepuck Cafe</a>&nbsp;to enable it to work on ROM03 machines! Hooray! Download the invidividual .zip from the game's <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/shufflepuck-cafe/">archive page</a>.</p> <p>I've also updated the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/Sports_and_Unreleased_Games.zip">Sports and Unreleased Games 32 meg ProDOS volume</a>&nbsp;where the game resides. To make it fit, I had to move ALL the text documentation I have for games (including cracks, hard drive installs, cheats, walkthroughs, maps, etc) to the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/Games_with_Path_Mods.zip">Games with Paths Modifications volume</a>, which seems more appropriate there anyway, given I've used a lot of those text files to make those games run from this 32 meg ProDOS volume.</p> <p>Enjoy!</p> Sun, 27 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/shufflepuck-cafe-now-rom03-compatible/ More Manuals for Hardware and Software! http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/more-manuals-for-hardware-and-software/ <p>Andrew Roughan has been able to scan a whole bunch of rare manuals and submit them to the site. We've got new documentation for hardware <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/octoram/">OctoRAM</a>&nbsp;and the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/supersonic-and-digitizer/">Supersonic Stereo Card and Digitiser</a>, as well as the manual to educational program <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/mathtalk/">MathTalk</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/typewest/">TypeWest</a>&nbsp;True Type fonts, and last but not least, the assembler <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/merlin-16-v4-08/">Merlin 16+</a>.</p> <p>David Wilson has also chipped in with manuals for the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/cirtech-scsi-card/">Cirtech SCSI Interface Card</a>&nbsp;and the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/insyder-scsi-card/">InSyder Controller Card</a>. Thanks guys!</p> <p>Now, I've created a new archive for <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/typewest/">TypeWest</a>, removing it from the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/pointless-v2-0/">Pointless</a>&nbsp;archive. In the process, I've updated the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/pointless-v2-0/">Pointless</a>&nbsp;archive to now allow you to download the 2image archive for the software. I've also updated the archives for <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/harmonie-2-1/">Harmonie</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/inwords-1-1/">InWords</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/typeset/">TypeSet</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/ultima-i/">Ultima I</a>&nbsp;to now allow you to download the 2image disk archives given it's been over 4 years now since Joe Kohn, the rights holder for this software, passed away. No one else has arranged licensing for these wares since, so let's call them Abandonware until someone secures the rights for them. They'll circulate around the Net in the meantime from this site, which is as good as any means to ensure these titles won't be lost forever.</p> Sun, 11 May 2014 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/more-manuals-for-hardware-and-software/ Jack Nicklaus Greatest 18 Holes of Major Championship Golf - All Course Disks Now Available! http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/jack-nicklaus-greatest-18-holes-of-major-championship-golf-all-course-disks-now-available/ <p>Who'd have thought that finding serveral complete golf courses, each with 18 holes, would be a hard thing to locate?</p> <p>It is when it's for the IIGS, and Antoine Vignau, the shyest man in the Apple II community, has done the admirable job of finding each of the additional official Accolade course disks for <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/jack-nicklaus-greatest-18-holes-of-major-championship-golf/">Jack Nicklaus' Greatest 18 Holes of Major Championship Golf</a>, adding to my original archive of the Courses of 1989, so we now finally have them all disk imaged, packaging and disk labels scanned as well as the complete documentation (updated the following day after this article was originally written).</p> <p>Accolade did a great job extending the playability of its IIGS titles, so you'll be enjoying a lot more golf on the IIGS than ever before with not only <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/jack-nicklaus-greatest-18-holes-of-major-championship-golf/">Jack Nicklaus</a>, but also the earlier <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/mean-18/">Mean 18</a>&nbsp;release,&nbsp;as well as enjoying a lot more diverse driving with <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/test-drive-ii/">Test Drive II</a>, which featured a load of additional content that's archived on this site as well.</p> Sun, 18 May 2014 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/jack-nicklaus-greatest-18-holes-of-major-championship-golf-all-course-disks-now-available/ Author of the book Iconic, the Photographed Visual History of Apple Products, Personally Drops Off a Copy http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/author-of-the-book-iconic-the-photographed-visual-history-of-apple-products-personally-drops-off-a-copy/ <p>Last Monday, I had the rare pleasure of Jonathan Zufi visiting my abode (luckily it's on one of the days I work from home) and personally deliver a copy of his book '<a href="http://iconicbook.com">Iconic</a>', the 'Photographic Tribute to Apple Innovation'. Jonathan started his quest to photograph every product back in 2009 and started the <a href="http://shrineofapple.com">Shrine of Apple</a>&nbsp;site to share his collection of products photographed.</p> <p>Luckily we both had time to chat and shared stories of our collecting obsessions and our mutual love of Apple products. I was able to show off fairly modest collecton - my prized Apple IIGS, my G4 iMac, strawberry iMac G3 (both of which were recent acquisitions) my 9 classic form factor Macs making nice bookends in my shelves, the collection of boxed Apple II and Macintosh software, and the few other more 'recent' Macs (A blueberry iMac G3 and, a couple of blue and white G3s and quite possibly the rarest of my collection, the black all in one Performa from 1997.</p> <p>I was especially pleased that Jonathan told me he looked around for inspiration on books on Apple and came across my desire to create a coffee table book around Apple. I can only hope I had some influence; meeting Jonathan and seeing the results of his hard work in Iconic has made me want to double my efforts. Yes, the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/the-book-of-the-website/">work is still continuing on visual history of the Apple IIGS</a>. I'm still discovering all sorts of new information and content to include in the book &ndash; it WILL be worth the wait!</p> Sat, 31 May 2014 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/author-of-the-book-iconic-the-photographed-visual-history-of-apple-products-personally-drops-off-a-copy/ Sound Discoveries – A Discovery in itself! http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/sound-discoveries-a-discovery-in-itself/ <p>Even after all this time, we're still finding IIGS software that's never been archived.</p> <p>A little while ago (yes, I'm still catching up with posting IIGS software and documentation submissions) Antoine Vignau was the winning bidder to <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/sound-discoveries/">Sound Discoveries</a>&nbsp;- &nbsp;a bit of an oddity that I had NEVER heard of before (I'll double check the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/buyers-guide/">Apple IIGS Buyers Guide</a>, mail order catalogues and software reviews in <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/a-magazine/">A+</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/incider-magazine/">InCider</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/incidera-magazine/">A+/InCider</a>, Nibble, etc to see if it was ever mentioned anywhere).</p> <p>But it's a great addition to educational software on the IIGS - quite unique and different from anything else made in that category.</p> <p>Much thanks goes to Antoine again not only for purchasing the software from eBay, but then making a <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/sound-discoveries/">complete archive</a>&nbsp;including disk images, cover scan and full documentation available for everyone to enjoy.</p> Mon, 09 Jun 2014 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/sound-discoveries-a-discovery-in-itself/ Buckets of New Content http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/buckets-of-new-content/ <p>We've got a bevy of miscellaneous updates - let's roll them out...</p> <p>Michael Shopshin's been able to provide a disk image of <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/bank-street-writer-plus/">Bank Street Writer Plus</a>&nbsp;on 3.5" disk and Antoine's been able to provide a scan of the box for it - anyone have any word processing documents you need to view again with this 8-bit app, that includes a dictionary and thesaurus?</p> <p>Another rare and odd find is some accountancy software - <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/dac-easy-accounting/">DAC Easy Accounting</a>. I couldn't get too far with trialling the program, but it's there none-the-less for anyone wanting to have a go with this 8-bit application on 3.5" disk.</p> <p>There's a whole bunch of box scans recently acquired. <a href="http://www.brutaldeluxe.fr">Antoine's</a>&nbsp;provided <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/stickybear-math-2/">Stickybear Math 2</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/punctuation-rules/">Punctuation Rules</a>&nbsp;(both with the manuals as well!), and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/writer-rabbit/">Writer Rabbit</a>. <a href="http://quartdepomme.fr/quartdepomme/Welcome.html">Fran&ccedil;ois Michaud</a>&nbsp;has been able to provide scans for <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/math-rabbit/">Math Rabbit</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/gertrude-s-secrets/">Gertrude's Secrets</a>, for which I've added an archive for given that it was officially released on 3.5" disk (for which we still need a working disk image).</p> <p>Antoine's also been able to provide the box scan and manual for the IIGS specific educational software <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/all-about-america/">All About America</a>.</p> <p>Always helping out, Antoine's also been able to provide manuals for <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/designasaurus/">Designasaurus</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/first-shapes/">First Shapes</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/4th-and-inches/">4th &amp; Inches Team Construction Kit</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/blackjack-academy/">Blackjack Academy</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/street-sports-soccer/">Street Sports Soccer</a>&nbsp;(just in time for the world cup!).</p> Sun, 22 Jun 2014 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/buckets-of-new-content/ Gertrude's Secrets v1.3 3.5" Disk Image Archived http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/gertrude-s-secrets-v1-3-3-5-disk-image-archived/ <p>Thanks to&nbsp;Stavros Karatsoridis, who recently spotted I added an archive for <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/gertrude-s-secrets/">Gertrude's Secrets</a>, but no 3.5" disk image, we've been able to fill the gap with v1.3 of the educational classic. There is definitely v1.4, which is hard drive installable and ProDOS friendly however, so if anyone has that, that too will be added to the archive.</p> Sat, 28 Jun 2014 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/gertrude-s-secrets-v1-3-3-5-disk-image-archived/ Another Educational Journey Into Music Uncovered - Music Shapes http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/another-educational-journey-into-music-uncovered-music-shapes/ <p>After the recent unearthing of previously unknown IIGS software <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/sound-discoveries/">Sound Discoveries</a>, we've found another piece of IIGS specific educational software that allows you to play and experiment with sound and music - <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/music-shapes/">Music Shapes</a>. This has been added to the archive by finding a demo version within Tony Diaz's collection, and it seems to allow you to play with the software but not allowing you to save your sonic creations. Also held within the archive however, is a disk image that's supposed to be the full version that's been cracked, but I've never been able to get it to work. Regardless, enjoy...and expect more content to come!</p> Sun, 06 Jul 2014 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/another-educational-journey-into-music-uncovered-music-shapes/ Search Now Working Again here on WITA2GS? http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/search-now-working-again-here-on-wita2gs/ <p>For an uncertain period of time, the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/search/">search feature</a>&nbsp;of the site stopped working - but now it's back, better than ever. <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/search/">Try it out</a>&nbsp;- it's a great, quick way to find any application, game, eduware, hardware and its drivers, publications and magazines that are included in the archive. You can even do more advanced searches like limiting results to specifc genres or to a specific category of game, as well as listing results to a specific year of release, whether programs have been reclassified freeware versus abandonware, or by listing titles according to publisher.</p> <p>Thanks to Rane Bowen (back end web dev) and Greg Wildman (site admin) for getting this back up and running!</p> Mon, 07 Jul 2014 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/search-now-working-again-here-on-wita2gs/ 8-bit version of Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego on 3.5" Disk Found! http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/8-bit-version-of-where-in-the-world-is-carmen-sandiego-on-3-5-disk-found/ <p>Thanks again to Antoine Vignau, we now have another rarity catalogued and archived - <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/where-in-the-world-is-carmen-sandiego-8-bit/">Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego on 3.5" disk</a>. This ISN'T the IIGS specific version, rather a re-release that would have especially pleased Apple IIc+ users, as the game can be entirely played without flipping the disk over (which as the original 5.25" asked you to do that fairly regularly).</p> <p>I ask everyone to check their collections to see if they might have the equally rare <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/where-in-the-usa-is-carmen-sandiego-8-bit/">Where in the U.S.A. is Carmen Sandiego on 3.5"</a>, so we can have a complete set of this awesome series in the more convenient 3.5" disk format.</p> <p>One other minor addition - I added the box for the 8-bit version of <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/reading-and-me-8-bit/">Reading and Me</a>&nbsp;from my own collection (it's what I've been using to represent the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/reading-and-me/">IIGS version</a>&nbsp;all this time, despite it's actually for 8-bit Apple IIs).</p> Thu, 10 Jul 2014 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/8-bit-version-of-where-in-the-world-is-carmen-sandiego-on-3-5-disk-found/ Control Finance Like It's 1995! Your Money Matters and Financial GeniuS archived! http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/control-finance-like-it-s-1995-your-money-matters-and-financial-genius-archived/ <p>Getting back to finally being able to properly archive some of the application software I found within Tony Diaz's collection, we have some more IIGS rarities to include.</p> <p>Apart from Sierra's <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/smart-money/">Smart Money</a>&nbsp;(which I've been hunting for a box, disk label and manual scan forever - can anyone help there?), there were no IIGS specific programs that dealt with your personal finance...until some independant developers decided to step up to the plate. <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/your-money-matters/">Your Money Matters</a>&nbsp;is the first of these, completely utilising the standard Apple GUI and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/system-6-0-1/">System 6</a>&nbsp;to the full. We're lucky to have a complete archive of it now, as Tony's original copy of disk 2, with the actual program on it, refused to image, citing errors. I remember I tried the next morning and thankfully it worked (would expansion and contraction during the warmer and cooler parts of the day play a part in successfully making disk images, either in regards to the disk media or the drive itself?!).</p> <p>The second program to keep a close eye on your money is <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/financial-genius/">Financial GeniuS</a>, which was eventually released as $35 shareware, but I believe its developer, Rick Adams, hoped would be a full commercial release. Again, this is a pretty comprehensive program that takes full advantage of <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/system-6-0-1/">System 6</a>. Also included are the demo version, which includes a demo account file, as well as earlier versions of the program I'd found earlier.</p> Sun, 20 Jul 2014 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/control-finance-like-it-s-1995-your-money-matters-and-financial-genius-archived/ More 8-bit 3.5" Disk Additions – Math & Me, Stickybear Spellgrabber and Battletech http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/more-8-bit-3-5-disk-additions-math-me-stickybear-spellgrabber-and-battletech/ <p>As I write this, KansasFest 2014 is still progressing and as always, I'm jealous I can't be in attendence thanks to the tyranny of distance!</p> <p>But as some small consolation, I can add some newly acquired 8-bit software on 3.5" disk images - <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/math-and-me-8-bit/">Math and Me</a>&nbsp;(which I purchased on eBay myself through vendor <a href="http://stores.ebay.com/00000-Vintage-Software-and-More/Apple-II-Apple-/_i.html?_fsub=4&amp;_sid=79168&amp;_trksid=p4634.c0.m322">Vintage Software and More</a>) and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/stickybear-spell-grabber/">Stickybear Spellgrabber</a>. Both have been cracked by Antoine, and by chance, Antoine was particularly delighted with Stickybear Spellgrabber, as it uses the same gaming engine to one of his favourite 8-bit games, 'Run For It'.</p> <p>With the inclusion of a fully working 3.5" disk image of Math and Me, I believe the only remaining double hi-res Davidson title left to archive is <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/word-attack-plus-french/">Word Attack Plus! French</a>&nbsp;If anyone has a 3.5" disk image of it, cracked or otherwise, it would be great to complete the archive of the most recent Apple II Davidson educational titles.</p> <p>Also included is a 3.5" disk image of the mech based RPG <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/battletech/">Battletech</a>&nbsp;by Infocom, thanks to Mario Patino, who noticed the game had an install option to 3.5" disk from the original 5.25" disks. Mario's also scanned in the necessary documentation for word lookup protection in the game.</p> <p>Speaking of Infocom, Antoine has completed scans of all the documentation that came with the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/lost-treasures-of-infocom/">Lost Treasures of Infocom</a>&nbsp;with the addition of the hint book. Think of this manual collection as a one stop shop for all of Infocom's interactive fiction titles, even if you don't intend on playing a Lost Treasures edition of certain Infocom games - all manuals, maps and hintbooks are now at your disposal.</p> Sun, 27 Jul 2014 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/more-8-bit-3-5-disk-additions-math-me-stickybear-spellgrabber-and-battletech/ More IIGS Educational Software from Orange Cherry and Unicorn Now Archived http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/more-iigs-educational-software-from-orange-cherry-and-unicorn-now-archived/ <p>Thanks to&nbsp;Petar Puskarich and his recovery of archives he made back in the mid '90s, we've got some new 2image additions to What is the Apple IIGS? &ndash; some of which I've been hoping to find for many years.</p> <p>The first is <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/math-story-problems/">Math Story Problems</a>, an Orange Cherry title that for once, didn't talk and seems to be better off for it, as there's much more depth to the program than most of their other programs. It's graphically less rich as well, but it really does give kids a lot of chances to get on top of mathematic related problems.</p> <p>The next Orange Cherry title is <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/reading-about-series/">Computer Video Reader: World of Nature - Reading About Animals</a>&nbsp;(which is included in one archive with the rest of the other titles in this series). This only leaves 'Reading About Sharks' left to complete this collection. If anyone has that as a disk image, please submit it to the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/submit-2image-archive/">archive here</a>.</p> <p>The only other Orange Cherry title to be archived is <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/talking-academic-quiz-kid/">Talking Academic Quiz Kid</a>&nbsp;- if anyone has that as a disk image (or a complete packaged product) please feel free to submit it. It may have been the very last IIGS program Orange Cherry released and their later software was very well produced.</p> <p>Last but certainly not least, is <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/logic-master/">Logic Master</a>, by Unicorn Software. This involves both mathematic and reading comprehension which challenges students to multiple choice questions, but that's only the training phase. When you're ready, you can enter a dungeon, fight monsters, open treasure chests by correctly answering questions and then finding the treasure hoarding dragon and answering its questions. Only then will you win the game.</p> <p>At 1990, this is the latest Unicorn release discovered so far. According to one of their catalogues, there MAY be more IIGS specific titles that were released:&nbsp;Phonics Fun, Fraction Action, Decimal Dungeon, Percentage Panic, Ghostly Grammar, but no other evidence has been found that they were released for the IIGS (appearing in mail order catalogues in magazines back in the day). There are Amiga versions of each of these programs, so it's possible IIGS versions were either released in limited quantities, or at the very least, considered for conversion to the IIGS. If anyone knows anything more about these titles, be sure to <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/submit-news/">write in</a>.</p> <p>And as usual, if you've got fully boxed versions of any these programs, please scan the box, manual and disk labels if you can.</p> Sun, 24 Aug 2014 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/more-iigs-educational-software-from-orange-cherry-and-unicorn-now-archived/ Word Attack Plus French Found! Complete GNO/ME Documentation! Pegasus Pascal Demo Found! More Carmen Sandiego Updates! http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/word-attack-plus-french-found-complete-gno-me-documentation-pegasus-pascal-demo-found-more-carmen-sandiego-updates/ <p>I'm pleased to announce that thanks to Petar Puskarich's archive and Antoine Vignau's deprotection skills, we now have the elusive <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/word-attack-plus-french/">Word Attack Plus! French</a>&nbsp;program in our archive.</p> <p>Antoine's also been able to provide documentation for <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/programming-applications/">GNO/ME</a>&nbsp;- a lot of which was edited by Andrew Roughan.</p> <p>Speaking of Andrew, he's found a demo for the even more elusive <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/pegasus-pascal/">Pegasus Pascal</a>, but we're still hunting around for the original two disk set of the full program, which even its author, Ken O. Burtch doesn't have or can't make disk images of. Be sure to check in your own archives to see if Pegasus Pascal shows up.</p> <p>Andrew's also organising the next OzKFest, the Australian equivalent to KFest, to be tentatively scheduled for April 17-19 2015 in Melbourne. I'm hoping to go myself, but it's a bit too early for me to commit just yet. If you're in Australia and want to meet other Apple II users, this is a great time having flown up to Brisbane last year for OzKFest.</p> <p>Back to Antoine - he's found some more Carmen Sandiego curios - a self running demo for the IIGS specific version of <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/where-in-the-world-is-carmen-sandiego-/">Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego</a>&nbsp;and a playable demo of the 8-bit <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/where-in-europe-is-carmen-sandiego/">Where in Europe is Carmen Sandiego</a>. I've also found crack screen free versions of the full&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/where-in-europe-is-carmen-sandiego/">Where in Europe is Carmen Sandiego</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/where-in-time-is-carmen-sandiego/">Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego</a>&nbsp;- love a clean crack! Each of these new additions are included in the .zip file archives, so download them again to get at these.</p> Sun, 31 Aug 2014 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/word-attack-plus-french-found-complete-gno-me-documentation-pegasus-pascal-demo-found-more-carmen-sandiego-updates/ Beef up your IIGS Based HyperMedia and 3.5" Disk Labels with Software From Triad Venture http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/beef-up-your-iigs-based-hypermedia-and-3-5-disk-labels-with-software-from-triad-venture/ <p>Getting back to what I had archived when I visited Tony Diaz's place and rummaging through his extensive collection (which was about this time last year! How time flies!) I've got a new collection of software previously unarchived - that of Triad Venture. There's ways of making your Hyper Media projects easier thanks to the Hyperstuff Collection, including <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/triad-venture-clip-tunes/">Clip Tunes</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/triad-venture-animated-icons/">Animated Icons</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/triad-venture-clip-art/">Clip Art</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/triad-venture-sound-converter/">Sound Converter</a>. Additionally, spice up your back-ups with some printed labels - right on your IIGS itself thanks to the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/graphic-disk-labeller/">Graphic Disk Labeller</a>&nbsp;(GDL). As a bonus, we've also got complete documentation for GDL, Animated Icons and ClipTunes.</p> Sun, 14 Sep 2014 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/beef-up-your-iigs-based-hypermedia-and-3-5-disk-labels-with-software-from-triad-venture/ Major Apps Update - New Apps! Updated Apps! New App Manuals and box scans! http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/major-apps-update-new-apps-updated-apps-new-app-manuals-and-box-scans/ <p>At last, I've found time to finally unleash the last of the application related content additions I archived a good 12 months ago amongst Tony Diaz's collection - a veritable cornacopia of interesting material. Let's begin!</p> <p>First up, an archive for <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/addressed-for-success/">Addressed for Success</a>, including versions 1.0 and 1.1beta, as well as the manual.</p> <p>Secondly, an equally complete archive for <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/desktop-enhancer/">Desktop Enhancer v2.0</a>, a functional but user unfriendly suite of utilities providing desktop appearance, sound event, screen saver and desktop clock options to System 5.0.4 and System 6.0.x.</p> <p>Thirdly, we now have on archive the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/beagle-bros-clip-art/">Beagle Bros Clip Art</a>&nbsp;(which I think was originally released through Styleware, Beagle Bros picking up that title along with most of Styleware's back catalogue when they got bought out by Claris).</p> <p>And then we've got a tonne of updates:</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/discquest/">discQuest</a>&nbsp;versions 1.3 and 1.4 allow for more discPassage titles to be used on the IIGS, as well as making use of the Second Sight card to display their graphics as they were originally intended without conversion.</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/faxination/">FAXination</a>&nbsp;updates, including v1.0.4 and v1.0.5b - these might be able to make the software actually work! I don't know myself, not having an old modem around.</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/calendar-crafter/">Calendar Crafter v1.3</a>&nbsp;has no copy protection and runs from a hard drive / large ProDOS volume fine now.</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/platinum-paint/">Platinum Paint v2.0.1</a>&nbsp;has been discovered - what this actually adds or fixes I don't know unfortunately, as no release notes were found along with it.</p> <p>Styleware / Beagle Bros <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/styleware-font-library-vol/">Font Library 1</a>&nbsp;disk replaced as previous disk image was corrupted from my original 3.5" disk.</p> <p>Plus - a load of manual scans:</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/super-menu-pack/">Super Menu Pack</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/nexus/">Nexus</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/imagemaster-basic-paint/">Image Master: Basic Paint</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/trans-prog-iii/">Transprog III</a>&nbsp;(in addition to the existing French manual), <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/twilight-ii-v1-1/">Twilight II</a>&nbsp;addendums, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/auto-ark/">Auto Ark</a>&nbsp;v1.1 (in addition to the original v1.0 manual, although the archive still only includes v1.0 because v1.1 is still sold by Syndicomm).</p> <p>And last but not least, some box scans:</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/ansiterm-v2-1/">ANSITerm</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/hyperstudio-3-1/">Hyperstudio</a>&nbsp;(rare v3 box),&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/salvation-supreme/">Salvation Backup, Salvation Deliverance, Salvation Exorciser, Salvation Renaissance</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/show-off-/">Show Off Graphics Collection</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/super-convert-4/">Super Convert</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/switch-it-/">Switch It</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/graphic-writer-iii/">Graphic Writer</a>&nbsp;(Original), <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/quick-click-morph/">Quick Click Morph</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/spectra-graphix-256/">Super Graphix 256</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/quick-click-calc/">Quick Click Calc</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/prism/">Prism</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/pmp-fax/">PMP-FAX</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/nexus/">Nexus</a>.</p> <p>Some of these are manual cover scans (as there was no box for Super Convert, Switch It or PMP FAX) and I did scan the manuals as well, but discovered all too late there were issues with them which I didn't have time to fix before having to fly back to Australia from Tony's. Aargh!</p> Sun, 21 Sep 2014 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/major-apps-update-new-apps-updated-apps-new-app-manuals-and-box-scans/ Programming Additions and Time Out for a Baby http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/programming-additions-and-time-out-for-a-baby/ <p>We've got some programming related additions to the site. Andrew Roughan let me know that <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/merlin-16-v4-08/">Merlin 16+</a>&nbsp;was missing complete documentation, as the 8/16 manual was missing - that has now been rectified.</p> <p>Also, I've added the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/prodos-16-exerciser/">ProDOS 16 Exerciser</a>&nbsp;and the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/hodge-podge-v/">Hodge Podge</a>&nbsp;C and assembly source for easing your way into using the IIGS toolbox.</p> <p>In other news, it's the due date for our baby today. Who knows exactly when he or she will arrive, but I'm planning to take time out from updating content on the site so I can focus on helping my beautiful partner Bronwen in raising our first newborn. Keep sending in new content to add to the site, I just won't be able to respond quite as quickly.</p> <p>With whatever spare time I can find, I'm planning on working on final layouts for the 'What is the Apple IIGS?' <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/the-book-of-the-website/">coffee table book</a>. I've been able to make great progress on this over the past few months, and it's shaping up to be the ultimate visual history ever given to a single computer platform that I've always hoped it would be. Thanks for your patience everyone - it will be worth the wait!</p> Sat, 25 Oct 2014 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/programming-additions-and-time-out-for-a-baby/ It's Christmas Time! http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/it-s-christmas-time/ <p>Happy Holidays everyone! I hope you'll have some enjoyable time off as I've been having, spending time with my young new family.</p> <p>Luckily, I've found just enough time to share some Christmas cheer with you all, not to mention clearing out a backlog of submitted material from some generous contributors.</p> <p>Antoine's found quite the rarity - <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/disk-util-ii/">Disk Util II</a>&nbsp;by FWB for the IIGS. I had no idea of its existance before! It provides easy ways of cracking and/or hard drive installation of games and applications. Alas, its included selection of copying parameters did not include anything we didn't already have previously cracked or hard drive installable. Never-the-less, this came as a total surprise as FWB was very well known for the SCSI utilities on the Mac and I had no idea they ever released anything for the Apple II.</p> <p>After a curious enquiry by Quinn Dunki via the <a href="http://www.open-apple.net">Open Apple Podcast</a>, Mitch Spector has been able to provide what no-one else has: the 'Crude Sounds' hack for classic IIGS game <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/task-force/">Task Force</a>. It replaces some sound effects with some over-the-top four letter words and it's a hoot to play all over again. Just download the .zip archive again to get at both versions.</p> <p>After discussion with Fran&ccedil;ois Michaud about one of his recent acqusitions, the <a title="AST RamStak Plus" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/astramstakplus/" target="_blank">AST RamStak Plus</a>&nbsp;memory card for the IIGS, it turned out I had a scan of it all along, although apologies to whoever sent it - I have no record of your submission. But the card itself can now be visually scrutinised at least.</p> <p>Another more recent hardware find is the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/memory-saver/">Checkmate Memory Saver</a>&nbsp;card - thanks to Giorgio Morocutti for sending in an image of it. It appears to be a memory expansion card that allows you to plug-in another memory card, and keeping the RAM backed up via a battery. Almost like a solid state hard drive I guess, by making RAM non-volatile.</p> <p>I've also got some Christmas gifts to share: a box scan for <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/math-blaster-mystery/">Math Blaster Mystery</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/kid-writer-gold/">KidWriter Gold</a>. I've also got some new 8-bit eduwares on 3.5" - <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/speed-reader/">Speed Reader</a>, Classmate and Homeworker (I'll add archives for these soon!). Much thanks to Antoine for cracking them! Additionally, Antoine's also been able to supply a scan for <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/kidtalk/">KidTalk's</a>&nbsp;box and manual.</p> <p>Fran&ccedil;ois Michaud has been able to supply the manual and supplementary materials for <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/milliken-story-teller/">Milliken Story Teller</a>.</p> <p>For something a little bit different, the feature length story of <a href="http://www.naughtydog.com/site/post/happy_holidays_from_naughty_dog_30th_anniversary_video/">Naughty Dog's 30th Anniversary</a>&nbsp;is currently available in full - catch snippets of Apple II and IIGS action at the beginning.</p> Wed, 24 Dec 2014 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/it-s-christmas-time/ Happy New Year! RAM Pro Scan Acquired http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/happy-new-year-ram-pro-scan-acquired/ <p>Happy New Year everybody!</p> <p>Following another discussion on the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/5251478676/">Facebook Apple II Enthusiasts</a>&nbsp;group, Steve Eggers shared his joy and woe of obtaining a IIGS, but the monitor dying on him. Showing everyone what was part of his system Andrew Roughan spotted that the RAM card, a <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/rampro/">RAM Pro IIGS</a>, hadn't been archived on this site. So I asked Steve if he could scan or photograph it, and he's kindly been able to add it to the archive. Looks like a clone, but I'm not sure which one it's based on.</p> <p>UPDATE: Again, thanks to the lively discussion that goes on at the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/5251478676/">Facebook Apple II Enthusiasts</a>&nbsp;group, Robert Spitz reminded me of a RAM card he submitted to me a few years ago and not having been able to identify it, I kept it on the backburner and forgot about it. I've now included this <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/sequential-systems-4meg-ram-card-clone/">Sequential Systems 4meg RAM card clone</a>&nbsp;as part of the archive - if anyone has any information about its name, producer, or anything else, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/submit-news/">let us know about it</a>.</p> <p>From the last news article of&nbsp;<a title="2014" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2014" target="_blank">2014</a>, I promised I would include archives for <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/homeworker/">Homeworker</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/classmate/">Classmate</a>. They're now in place.</p> <p>Speaking of older news, we're facing the same year on year issue that the buttons down the right hand side for News don't include years beyond 2009. Fear not, as you can revise all previous years' news from the links below:</p> <p><a title="2014" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2014" target="_blank">2014</a></p> <p><a title="2013" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2013" target="_blank">2013</a></p> <p><a title="2012" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2012" target="_blank">2012</a></p> <p><a title="2011" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2011" target="_blank">2011</a></p> <p><a title="2010" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2010" target="_blank">2010</a></p> Sun, 04 Jan 2015 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/happy-new-year-ram-pro-scan-acquired/ Merlin 32 Released for Easy Cross Platform Development! Tarot Added to the Archive! http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/rare-french-card-game-tarot-added-to-the-archive/ <p>Antoine Vignau, the most upstanding citizen of the Apple IIGS community, has been able to provide a disk image, box scan and complete manual (in French) for the rare card game <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/tarot/">Tarot</a>. There's no known English version of this game, which is a shame because the game looks interesting to play and has nicely rendered card artwork, but if anyone wants to translate with a sector editor, be sure to send on an updated disk image ;-)</p> <p>Antoine's also recently got hold of the equally rare IIGS version of the strategy game <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/gold-of-the-americas/">Gold of the Americas</a>, so we've now got an official vesion of the box art and the manual as well.</p> <p>Saving the best until last, Antoine and Olivier have officially released <a href="http://www.brutaldeluxe.fr/products/crossdevtools/merlin/">Merlin 32</a>, a cross assembler for use currently on Windows and others are working on getting it up and running on Mac OS X and Linux. This will enable you to write, test and run code super fast and more conveniently on modern platforms for your IIGS and Apple II development projects as part of <a href="http://www.brutaldeluxe.fr/products/crossdevtools/index.html">Brutal Deluxe's Cross Development Tools</a>.</p> Sat, 10 Jan 2015 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/rare-french-card-game-tarot-added-to-the-archive/ Lots of Contributors Contributing Manual and Box Scans as well as Missing Software! http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/lots-of-contributors-contributing-manual-and-box-scans-as-well-as-missing-software/ <p>This update has involved more volunteers for new content than any other update! Thanks to everyone involved to help keep plugging the gaps in the archive!<br /> <br />Antoine Vignau has provided documentation scans for <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/solitaire-royale/">Solitaire Royale</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/pick-n-pile/">Pick 'n Pile</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/mathtalk-fractions/">MathTalk Fractions</a>&nbsp;(along with the box scan as well).</p> <p>Herbert Fung has provided manual scans for <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/ancient-glory/">Ancient Glory</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/perfect-image/">Perfect Image</a>&nbsp;(which can double for a box scan) and the 32k cache upgrade for the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/transwarpgs/">TranswarpGS</a>. He's also managed to find some really cool rarities - official clue books for <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/dragon-wars/">Dragon Wars</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/immortal-the/">The Immortal</a>. I never knew there was a clue book for&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/immortal-the/">The Immortal</a>!</p> <p>Robert Spitz let me know that I'm missing a specific CDEV on the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/System_Addons.zip">System Add-ons volume</a>&nbsp;-&nbsp;Transwarp GS Reporter will allow you change speeds and other settings from the graphical control panel. This now provides another option apart from the TWGS &lsquo;Speed' CDEV for playing around with your TranswarpGS graphically. Check out the CDEVs folder for this new inclusion on the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/System_Addons.zip">System Add-ons volume</a>.</p> <p>Alexander Crouzen dug up his useful 1991 memory comparison utility, DoubleDump v2.0, on the Apple II Enthusiasts Facebook group. I've added it to the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/Audio_and_Utilities.zip">Audio and Utilities 32meg volume</a>&nbsp;- look in the &lsquo;SW.Utilities' folder for it (that's where I include all collected shareware utils).</p> <p>Karl Horster has submitted the full <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/programmer-s-online-companion-the/">Programmers Online Companion</a>&nbsp;for the IIGS. This has until now been in the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/publications-books/">Publications &gt; Books</a>&nbsp;section, because I thought it was a book. More important than its printed pages is the Classic Desk Accessory contained within -&nbsp;it provides access to Toolbox calls that you can search, as well as copy to the clipboard for pasting into your code. Pretty nifty if you're still using the IIGS as your primary coding platform. Keep in mind that Brutal Deluxe is inching ever closer to a full development environment outside of the IIGS.</p> <p>Andrew Roughan has submitted the very comprehensive Teacher's Guide to <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/8-16-paint/">8/16 Paint</a>, written by Roberta Swartz and Michael Callery, who were behind the regular &lsquo;Speaking of Graphics' column in A+ magazine, which I simply loved. I wonder if they still have all the graphics that were submitted to appear in their monthly galleries? This addition has also made me realise we don't have a scan of the actual 8/16 Paint manual! And I own a boxed copy! Shame on me! I'll try and correct that soon.</p> <p>Last but certainly not least, Matt Reichert has been able to submit box scans for <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/arthur-quest-for-excalibur/">Arthur: Quest for Excalibur</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/centauri-alliance/">Centauri Alliance</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/journey/">Journey</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/knights-of-legend/">Knights of Legend</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/zork-zero/">Zork Zero</a>&nbsp;from his personal collection. Nice one!</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> Sun, 08 Feb 2015 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/lots-of-contributors-contributing-manual-and-box-scans-as-well-as-missing-software/ Kaboom! Released and OzKFest Looms! http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/kaboom-released-and-ozkfest-looms/ <p>Although I had my doubts that it would never happen, I still kept hope that <a href="http://www.ninjaforce.com/html/products_kaboom.html">Kaboom!</a>, Ninjaforce's longtime gaming project for the IIGS, would officially see the light of day. That day is today...or strictly speaking, yesterday!</p> <p> <div class="image left" style="width: 320;"><img title="Kaboom title" src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/Uploads/productskaboom01.gif" alt="Kaboom title" width="320" height="113" /></div> </p> <p>If you're not already familiar with it, <a href="http://www.ninjaforce.com/html/products_kaboom.html">Kaboom!</a>&nbsp;is a faithful, although unique, reproduction of the classic console game Bomberman. Between Jesse Blue for coding, Clue for the graphics and Dreamer for the sound and music, this is IIGS gaming that really stretches the limits of the machine to give you a truly 16-bit console gaming experience. System requirements are relatively demanding - you'll need a IIGS with at least 2 meg of RAM, high capacity storage (either hard drive or compact flash card solution - just having a 3.5" disk drive won't cut it) and highly advised, an accelerator (either a <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/transwarpgs/">Transwarp GS</a>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/zipgsx/">ZipGS</a>).</p> <p>The single player Blockbuster mode is oldschool unforgiving and fiendishly hard. This is great however, because the game poses a real challenge. The opening Beginning levels make sure you understand and appreciate the underlying strategies of the game that only by passing yourself could you ever hope to conquer the Mastermind levels.</p> <p>The multiplayer option is a hell of a lot of fun. Even my wife's been a little addicted playing against me. The computer AI is incredibly good and difficult to beat. It's so good in fact, it sometimes takes the IIGS down with a crash. Hopefully those AI bugs can be worked around, but if you've got at least 2 human players, then you don't need any AI players at all thanks to loads of configuration options as to how you can setup multiplayer games.</p> <p>All I can say is enjoy this long awaited title, and thank the hard work of <a href="http://www.ninjaforce.com/">Ninjaforce</a>, who've developed this title on and off over the last 20 years. It's releases like this that make our Apple II retro computing hobby so enjoyable! And I would have paid for the experience, yet NinjaForce is giving it away for free!</p> <p>You can download a disk image for use with emulators, or to get it to a storage device your IIGS can use (the <a href="http://dreher.net/?s=projects/CFforAppleII&amp;c=projects/CFforAppleII/main.php">CFFA3000</a>&nbsp;makes this easy, as you can simply copy the disk image to your compact flash or USB based storage and mount the disk image from there). Or, you can play the game right inside your browser if you have the FTA's ActiveGS plug-in installed in your preferred browser.</p> <p>Hope you all have a blast (pun intended) !</p> <p>In other news, <a href="http://www.kazoullis.com/ozkfest/ozkfest.net/The_Event.html">OzKFest</a>, the Australian equivalent to <a href="http://www.kansasfest.org">KansasFest</a>, will begin in just under a week's time in Melbourne. Hope to see you all there...and play some competitive Kaboom! while we're at it! :-)</p> Sun, 12 Apr 2015 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/kaboom-released-and-ozkfest-looms/ A new IIGS Demo Scene Emerging + NinjaTracker Released http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/a-new-iigs-demo-scene-emerging-ninjatracker-released/ <p>Could the IIGS demo scene start up again in a place where we've never seen anything done for the IIGS before? A new Brazilian production called 'Look Behind You' by Shadow Memory has been released and it's a great first demo including some neat effects not seen before. You can find the demo on the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/Odds_and_Ends.zip">Odds and Ends volume</a>&nbsp;in the 'Demos' folder under 'Look.2015'. Not heard of the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/Odds_and_Ends.zip">Odds and Ends</a>&nbsp;volume? That's because I forgot to mention it when I originally included it on What is the Apple IIGS?, but you'll find every hard drive installable demo I've found over the years on this volume...and then some!</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p class="image left" style="width: 320;"><img title="Look Behind You!" src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/News_Images/Look-Behind-You-by-Shadow-Memory.gif" alt="Look Behind You!" width="320" height="200" /></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Of course, the 8-bit Apple II demo scene has been ignited by <a href="http://www.ctrl-pomme-reset.fr/french-touch/">French Touch</a>, whose demos are impressive even when run on the IIGS. Be sure to check them out too. But Shadow Memory is hoping to find&nbsp;collaborators to assist with graphics/illustration and music sequencing for future productions. Email him at supersecret@apple2.gs if you'd like to contribute to new awesome and cool IIGS demos.</p> <p>By the way - the music player comes courtesy of NinjaForce, called <a href="http://www.ninjaforce.com/html/products_ninjatracker.html">NinjaTracker</a>. It's the same music engine used in their Mega Demo and Kaboom! (hope you all got the version 1.0.1 update) productions. What's the difference between this, SoundSmith and Amiga MOD format? Well, part of the NinjaTracker package is MOD Convert II, which will precisely convert Amiga MODs to NinjaTracker format with all effects intact. The compromise is that you can only have up to 64k of instrument data, as much that can fit into the Ensoniq's DOC RAM, allowing muisc playback with relatively little hit on the CPU. This is great for demos and games, as the 4 channels used for music allows other channels for sound effects.</p> <p>Antoine Vignau and Olivier Zardini of Brutal Delixe have made it even easier for developers to include NinjaTracker into their programs by creating a new system Tool, <a href="http://www.brutaldeluxe.fr/products/apple2gs/tool221/">Tool 221</a>, which can be easily tapped into to allow NinjaTracker music playback support.</p> <p>Enjoy these new products and I hope we'll be seeing a lot more IIGS software development in light of these recent products! Apple II Forever!</p> Sun, 21 Jun 2015 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/a-new-iigs-demo-scene-emerging-ninjatracker-released/ Burger Becky Videocast Ahead of KansasFest 2015 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/burger-becky-videocast-ahead-of-kansasfest-201/ <p>Rebecca Heineman, programmer behind IIGS classics <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/tass-times-in-tonetown/">Tass Times in Tonetown</a>, the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/bard-s-tale-i-tales-of-the-unknown-the/">Bard's Tale I</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/bard-s-tale-ii-the-destiny-knight-the/">II</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/neuromancer/">Neuromancer</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/crystal-quest/">Crystal Quest</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/dragon-wars/">Dragon Wars</a>, and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/out-of-this-world/">Out of this World</a>, has recorded a video cast (that was originally broadcast live on <a href="http://www.twitch.tv/burgerbecky">twitch.tv</a>, but is now available on&nbsp;<a title="BurgerTime on YouTube" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1oY6SDEpMU&amp;list=PLWig8fnNlm-7v_LrwfvolbCuI68mZzGNb" target="_blank">YouTube</a>) that reveals, in part, how she coded a couple of her games (including her unofficial reworking of <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/space-ace/">Space Ace</a>), and how they can be potentially recompiled using <a href="http://www.brutaldeluxe.fr/products/crossdevtools/index.html">Brutal Deluxe's more recent efforts</a>&nbsp;in cross compiling on more recent hardware. Rebecca includes a lot of her history and advice for aspiring coders.</p> <p>Rebecca herself will be attending this year's <a href="http://www.kansasfest.org">KansasFest</a>&nbsp;to deliver its keynote address. She plans to use the source code of Bard's Tale I, II and the unreleased IIGS version of <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/the-bard-s-tale-iii/">Bard's Tale III</a>&nbsp;to create newly compiled versions to run on recent platforms as an extra feature to <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/inxile/the-bards-tale-iv">Bard's Tale IV</a>, recently announced on Kickstarter. She also recently revealed on Twitter that she'd prepared a IIGS version of Wasteland, but that suffered the same fate as Bard's Tale III when Electronics Arts got nasty after Interplay went independant and went with Activision as as distributor.</p> <p>Last chance to clear your schedule and go to the biggest Apple II event of the year...in the <a href="http://www.ozkfest.net">northern hemisphere at least</a>&nbsp;;-)</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> Mon, 06 Jul 2015 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/burger-becky-videocast-ahead-of-kansasfest-201/ Space Ace Source Code Released! http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/space-ace-source-code-released/ <p>After Burger Becky's video cast, she's now uploaded the <a href="https://github.com/Olde-Skuul/spaceaceiigs">source code to her reworking of the IIGS version of Space Ace</a>, allowing it to be hard drive installable. Would this be enough to perhaps rejig the code to get the Dragon's Lair series of games from Readysoft working on the IIGS? I'm trying to extract the data from the Atari ST and Amiga versions to see if we can do just that!</p> Sun, 12 Jul 2015 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/space-ace-source-code-released/ Burger Becky Releases Mindshadow for the IIGS http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/burger-becky-releases-mindshadow-for-the-iigs/ <p>KansasFest 2015 is only just wrapping up now (keep track of what's exactly been going on via the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/KansasFest/videos">KansasFest YouTube channel</a>) but during all the excitment, Burger Becky Heineman released the previously unreleased IIGS version of the classic Interplay text/graphic adventure <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/mind-shadow/">Mindshadow</a>. Also, Burger Becky gave the keynote address for this year's annual event and it's not only a great oral history of her work, but great inspiration if you're in need of a never say die attitude! Jason Scott, of the Internet Archive, has been able to provide a <a href="https://archive.org/details/20150715Kansasfest2015BurgerBeckyKeynote">full audio recording of Becky's presentation</a>.</p> <p>Thanks to Jorma Honkanen for the scan of the 8-bit Apple II version of <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/mind-shadow/">Mindshadow</a>&nbsp;for the archive! (I knew starting to collect 8-bit scans of non-IIGS titles would start to come in handy!)</p> Sun, 19 Jul 2015 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/burger-becky-releases-mindshadow-for-the-iigs/ System 6.0.2, System 6.0.3…and counting? http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/system-6-0-2-system-6-0-3-and-counting/ <p>If you follow other sources of Apple II news (<a href="http://www.callapple.org">Call A.P.P.L.E</a>, <a href="http://a2central.com">A2 Central</a>), you'll already have heard that System 6.0.2 got released, followed shortly by System 6.0.3. What, you say? Apple's made updates after 22 years? No! Let's just say that there are some folks who've managed to obtain the source code and have been spending time on making bug fix and feature additions to the last released version of GS/OS.</p> <p>This illuminati (indulge me here for a little unnecessary drama folks) have created a little bit of a hot potato in that Apple could potentially come down on us for using something like System 6.0.3, but in reality, I think they've got bigger fish to fry.</p> <p>Another issue I've been mulling over is if I should include newer versions of System 6 as part of this archive. Compatibility issues with existing software should be a non issue, but there is a possibility something could break with these updates to GS/OS.</p> <p>I wasn't expecting new versions of System 6, and I've been happy with the amount of time I've spent putting into my 32meg ProDOS disk images and considered them...definitive, I guess (indulge me just a little further). Another issue is that my System 6.0.1 images include the GUPP patches that fix multiple bugs, some of which are addressed in System 6.0.3 and some that are not. GUPP still apparently works in System 6.0.3 without harm, but I feel it's now a slightly inelegant solution - something that now sits in the system folder and memory that's trying to fix something that's now fix, and fixing other things that haven't yet been fixed. I hope that System 6.0.4, if it's being worked on, addresses all the bugs that GUPP fixes, so GUPP can be removed altogether. Indeed, I hope all INIT based patches that fix bugs (including those released through SoftdiskGS) are addressed with fixes in the source code, so these patches are no-longer needed and enable a cleaner and leaner System 6.</p> <p>Anyways, I've been persuaded to include System 6.0.3 and (System 6.0.2) into a <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/system-6-0-x/">new archive</a>&nbsp;and a different version of the preinstalled version of System 6, including 6.0.3, is <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/System6_0_3_and_Free_Games.zip">now available</a>&nbsp;(thanks to the Easy Update feature included in the installer of 6.0.3 - if you already have a System you're happy with, you can run this over it to update to 6.0.3 and live everything else as it was). Have fun playing with them, as I will, but take caution, perhaps, that your data is backed up before relying on System 6.0.2 or greater in case any currently unknown bugs rear their ugly heads.</p> <p>There's only one thing I don't like with System 6.0.3 and it's entirely cosmetic and petty: after the system loads and before the launching application appears (usually the Finder) the IIGS briefly reverts to the text display with cursor in the top left hand corner. It's likely this has been done as a trade off to support one of the new features in this release, but I'm not a fan, as no previous version of GS/OS has done this and after using GS/OS for 25 years, it jars my experience just a little bit. As I said, it's petty. Most people probably won't even see it.</p> <p>My favourite new feature is how the Find File NDA will now allow you to double click on the results of a search and take you there in the Finder. That would have saved me a good deal of time when I was collating and sorting all the System Add-ons several years ago, but better late than never :-)</p> Sun, 06 Sep 2015 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/system-6-0-2-system-6-0-3-and-counting/ Fun for the Whole Family! Zany Golf Now Available with Unlimited Strokes! http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/fun-for-the-whole-family-zany-golf-now-available-with-unlimited-strokes/ <p>A little while ago,&nbsp;<a href="http://my-cool-projects.blogspot.com.au/2015/06/reverse-engineering-zany-golf-apple.html">Matthew P. Ownby hacked Zany Golf</a>&nbsp;so his kids could see more, if not all, of the classic IIGS game. I derided him as lame (in jest of course) hinting that any true gamer would suffer failure after failure until you truly mastered the game.</p> <p>But you know what? I take certain things for granted, especially when I went through much heartache to complete the game and remembering, on a pixel level, how to get a hole-in-one for the first three holes, getting the right touch going with the Fans and Magic Carpet levels, not to mention when to hit the bumpers on the Ant Hill, getting to the mouse hole as quickly as possible in the Energy level and the safe path before the last hole on the mystery level. It's true to say that others won't be quite so willing to go through so much self-inflicted pain to see and hear this gorgeous game in its entirety.</p> <p>And, now that I have a daughter of my own, I certainly don't want her put off by Zany Golf's difficulty curve when it'll come to playing a few rounds with her old man. So Todd Holcomb, with exquisite timing, sent the patched version of the game (as it's not available via Matthew's blog post) and now, we can all enjoy in making as many mistakes as you like before reaching the score card after the tenth hole.</p> <p>Simply download the game's <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/zany-golf/">2image archive again</a>, and boot the regular version or the 'Unlimited Strokes' version for unlimited putts. Or, download the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/Sports_and_Unreleased_Games.zip">Sports and Unreleased Games 32meg ProDOS volume</a>, go to the 'Sports' folder and open the 'Zany.Golf.Cheat' folder. Don't forget, you can press '4' on the title screen(s) for four simultaneous players of family fun.</p> Mon, 07 Sep 2015 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/fun-for-the-whole-family-zany-golf-now-available-with-unlimited-strokes/ Miscellany Mélange http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/miscellany-m-lange/ <p>This is a long overdue collection of updates and I apologise to everyone who's submitted these additions that it's taken this long to get them onto the site.</p> <p>Firstly, Andrew Roughan has submitted the following hardware scans:</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/gglabs-4-meg-ram/">GGLabs 4meg RAM Card</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/carte-blanche-ii/">Carte Blanche II</a>&nbsp;and the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/carte-blanche-i/">Carte Blanche I</a>. That's made me realise I needed to create an entry for the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/gglabs-8-meg-ram/">GGLabs 8meg card</a>&nbsp;as well, so if anyone has that, feel free to scan it and submit it to include in this archive.</p> <p>Andrew's also provided manual cover images (in lieu of there being hard box packages to scan) for <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/disk-access/">Disk Access</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/spectrum/">Spectrum</a>, (Brendan Bellina sent them only days after Andrew submitted them) as well as the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/land-of-the-unicorn/">Land of the Unicorn</a>&nbsp;box scan, manual and disk labels.</p> <p>Herbert Fung's submitted some rare hardware manuals - <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/pc-transporter/">TransDrive (PC Transporter)</a>, and for the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/conserver/">Conserver</a>&nbsp;(MDIdeas version).</p> <p>Never ceasing to further the cause of the Apple II, <a href="http://www.brutaldeluxe.fr">Antoine Vignau</a>&nbsp;has submitted cracked disk images of the 8-bit titles released on 3.5" disk&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/reading-writing-with-the-boars/">Reading and Writing with the Boars</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/magic-slate-ii/">Magic Slate II</a>.</p> <p>Antoine's also managed to procure, via eBay, very rare fully boxed versions of both Reading Magic titles by Tom Snyder Productions - <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/reading-magic-flodd-the-bad-guy/">Flodd the Bad Guy</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/reading-magic-jack-the-beanstalk/">Jack and the Beanstalk</a>, from which he's scanned the box art, disk labels and the manual for all of us to enjoy. Additionally, he's also scanned the IIGS specific version of <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/reading-and-me/">Reading and Me</a>, to substitute the 8-bit version of the box art.</p> <p>Not only that, Antoine has also completely archived <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/grapholie/">Grapholie</a>&nbsp;by Cr&eacute;alude, a clip-art collection sold only in France, as well as version 1.1 of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/show-off-/">Show Off</a>&nbsp;(although there was no amendment to the manual in the box related to v1.1, so it's unsure what exactly has been updated - the only thing I've noticed is you can now format disks from the File menu, but I'm sure there are other improvements). As an encore, Antoine's also found and made a disk image of the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/music-contruction-set/">Music Construction Set</a>&nbsp;Player Demo, which basically works as a jukebox for Music Construction Set tracks - feel free to play around with creating your own mix &lsquo;disk' with this to autoplay some tunes on your IIGS. It's now included in the 2image archive for that title.</p> <p><a href="http://quartdepomme.fr">Fran&ccedil;ois Michaud</a>&nbsp;has been able to submit a disk image for Mini Paint from Gem Software, which eventually evolved into <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/platinum-paint/">Platinum Paint</a>, quite possibly the best 16 colour paint program for the IIGS. Mini Paint has been included as a 2image archive with the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/platinum-paint/">Platinum Paint</a>&nbsp;disk images.</p> <p>Kyle Wadsten, author of <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/probe-gs/">ProbeGS</a>, let me know there was no official box for the sector editing application, so on his suggestion, I've used the front cover of the manual to use as a box scan.</p> <p>Wade Clarke has submitted a scan of the Origin 8-bit game with 3.5" disk release <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/2400-ad/">2400AD</a>&nbsp;and Andrew Roughan has submitted a scan of the manual.</p> <p>Frank Rossi has seen the recent interest in Space Ace and the other Readysoft games and recently found the Amiga version of <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/dragon-s-lair-ii/">Dragon's Lair II: Timewarp</a>&nbsp;at a video gaming convention for $2! He's submitted a scan of the front of the box.</p> <p>I got round to scanning my <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/cffa300/">CFFA3000</a>&nbsp;and included a mini review - not the full blown review I've always planned to do, but I just haven't had the time. That reminds me - if you're interested in the CFFA3000 (and you should be if you have a IIGS or IIe) be sure to get <a href="mailto:rich@dreher.net">your name down to reserve a card</a>&nbsp;in the next production run happening in November!</p> <p>And that's it for the time being...but there's still more to come, and as always, you can be a part of it. Stay tuned.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> Tue, 06 Oct 2015 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/miscellany-m-lange/ Miscellany Mélange Part II http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/miscellany-m-lange-part-ii/ <p>In addition to Antoine providing full archives for the two Reading Magic titles, he's now hacked both <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/reading-magic-flodd-the-bad-guy/">Flodd the Bad Guy</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/reading-magic-jack-the-beanstalk/">Jack and the Beanstalk</a>&nbsp;to be hard drive installable! Yes! The individual 2image archives now include the hard drive patches, but you can also enjoy them on the pre-loaded <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/Reading_Writing_and_Maths.zip">Reading, Writing and Mathematics 32meg volume</a>&nbsp;I've prepared.</p> <p>If you haven't seen any of my <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/hard-drive-image-revisions-more-content-updates/">previous news posts</a>&nbsp;about it before, I'm rather keen on getting all IIGS software running from a hard drive or any large ProDOS volume from some of the more modern solid state drive solutions. This is simply so anyone with any sort of mass storage device can run their IIGS software much faster than if it was running from a floppy drive and much more conveniently in terms of speed and avoiding disk swapping.</p> <p>While IIGS users prize having an accelerator like the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/transwarpgs/">Transwarp GS</a>&nbsp;or <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/zipgsx/">ZipGS</a>, the most efficient way of speeding up your IIGS is to use some form of mass storage, like an <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/disc-controllers/">IDE or SCSI based harddrive</a>, or better yet, a solid state drive solution like the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/cffa300/">CFFA3000</a>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/microdrive-ide/">MicroDrive</a>/<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/microdrive-ide-turbo/">MDTurbo</a>.</p> <p>If you've got a hard drive installed version of a game, app or educational program we don't have on archive, we'd love to hear from you.</p> <p>Antoine's also recently obtained a boxed rare French IIGS title - <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/atlas-200/">Atlas2000</a>. I'd seen this listed here and there over the years and was always puzzled by what it was, but as it turns out this is the original French language title for what eventually got released much later as <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/geo-quiz/">GeoQuiz</a>&nbsp;in the U.S. in English.&nbsp;So now English and French speaking users can test their geographic knowledge thanks to archives of both Atlas 2000 and GeoQuiz. Checking my own archives, I found a development version, v0.4, and have added that to the 2image archive for this title.</p> <p>Andrew Roughan noticed that <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/clip-art-gallery/">Clip Art Gallery</a>&nbsp;didn't include it's manual/guide, so submitted a scan of his copy. What I failed to notice was that Antoine had submitted this at the beginning of the year and it escaped my attention! In the end, I've uploaded Antoine's version of the scan - the blacks are solid from the original black and white manual, so it's better quality. Apologies to both Andrew and Antoine!</p> <p>Tracy Burton wrote in to share in the discovery of what the box to <a href="http://mocagh.org/loadpage.php?getgame=cryllan2">Cryllan Mission 2088: Second Scenario looks like</a>.</p> <p>It's on the Museum of Computer Adventure Game History, along with an addendum to the game. It states that it's an entirely new game, despite the artwork for the box and disk labels being re-used from the original Cryllan Mission 2088 release. However, the Second Scenario box does include a sticker specifying that it's an all new game, so the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/cryllan-mission-2088-the-second-scenario/">thumbnail and high-res image included on What is the Apple IIGS?</a>&nbsp;now includes that.</p> <p>And that's also reminded me that Jesse Blue, of <a href="http://www.ninjaforce.com/html/news.html">Ninja Force</a>, let me know about this at the beginning of the year. Oh my non-functioning baby brain! Speaking of Jesse Blue, he's asked when we'll see <a href="http://www.ninjaforce.com/html/products_kaboom.html">Kaboom!</a>&nbsp;make an appearance on What is the Apple IIGS? Soon, but I've run out of time for updates this week. Stay tuned.</p> <p>Oh, and got an Apple Watch? <a href="http://www.bytecellar.com/2015/10/07/an-apple-iigs-fta-apple-watch-face/">Blake Patterson might have just found a killer app for it</a>, if you're a IIGS fan at least ;-)</p> Sun, 11 Oct 2015 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/miscellany-m-lange-part-ii/ 8-bit on 3.5" Disk Educational Titles Updates http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/8-bit-on-3-5-disk-educational-titles-updates/ <p>If you've not come across the great work by <a href="https://twitter.com/a2_4am">4am</a>, cracker extraordinaire, then you've got a treat in store. The mysterious figure has spent at least the last 12 months procuring original copies of 8-bit Apple II, cracking them, then <a href="https://archive.org/details/@4am">archiving them for all to enjoy</a>...in most cases, for the first time ever even after all these years.</p> <p>Additionally, the vast majority of 4am's conquests have been educational software, something I'm particularly pleased with as I hope to bond with my 1 year old daughter by playing these titles (when the time is right at varying stages of her cognitive development) on a real Apple II so she doesn't miss out on the same fairly meaningless experiences I had growing up. 8-bit stuff on its traditional media of 5.25" disk isn't within the regular scope of this site's goal, however, 4am recently came across some some 8-bit stuff on 3.5" disk, which included his/her cracks of <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/alge-blaster/">Alge Blaster</a>&nbsp;(original), <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/read-n-roll/">Read 'n' Roll</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/math-blaster-plus-8-bit/">Math Blaster Plus!</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/math-blaster-mystery/">Math Blaster Mystery</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/math-and-me-8-bit/">Math and Me</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/spell-it-plus/">Spell It Plus!</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/word-attack-plus-spanish/">Word Attack Plus! Spanish</a>&nbsp;and the never before archived (in either 3.5" or 5.25" disk format), orginal <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/word-attack/">Word Attack</a>&nbsp;(for which 4am has been generous in sharing them with this archive - just follow the previous links). These have been merged with existing archives (most of which were cracked by 'Logo', or as we better know him, Antoine Vignau) and this has yielded some newer and older versions of the programs not previously archived.</p> <p>In other educational 8-bit on 3.5" disk news, I recently reviewed my DataFlow catalogues from 1992&ndash;93 and 94 and came across some interesting things. DataFlow was Australia's largest software distributor in the 1980s (and into the 90s) and it adds a lot of credence as to exactly which 8-bit 3.5" releases actually made it out to consumers (even Apple's own list doesn't seem entirely accurate), as they wouldn't have included titles that simply weren't available, especially by 1992, when there really wasn't much new Apple II software coming out by then.</p> <p>As part of that, it looks like earlier Davidson titles, like the original Math Blaster and Spell It, were indeed available on 3.5" disk. So if anyone has those, be sure to image them and send them on to this site.</p> <p>Another series of 8-bit educational software in the catalogue that caught my eye was the Explore-a-Story, Explore-a-Classic and Explore-a-Science series:</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/explore-a-story-rosie-the-counting-rabbit/">Explore-a-Story - Rosie, the Counting Rabbit</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/explore-a-story-the-bald-headed-chicken/">Explore-a-Story - The Bald Headed Chicken</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/explore-a-story-a-brand-new-view/">Explore-a-Story - A Brand New View</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/explore-a-story-where-did-my-toothbrush-go/">Explore-a-Story - Where Did My Toothbrush Go?</a></p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/explore-a-classic-princess-the-pea/">Explore-a-Classic - Princess &amp; The Pea</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/explore-a-classic-stone-soup/">Explore-a-Classic - Stone Soup</a>, <a title="Explore-a-Classic - Three Little Pigs" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/explore-a-classic-three-little-pigs/" target="_blank">Explore-a-Classic - Three Little Pigs</a></p> <p><a></a></p> <p>and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/explore-a-science-dinosaur-construction-kit/">Explore-a-Science Dinosaur Construction Kit</a>.</p> <p>The reason these are particularly of interest is that they were (supposedly) released on 3.5" disk, they use double-hi-res graphics, and a mouse driven interface. The only examples of the Explore series that have been archived over the years are <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/explore-australia/">Explore Australia</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/animal-watch-whales/">Explore-a-Science Whales</a>. And they're great. In Animal Watch - Whales, you can drag and drop a whales epidermal, muscular and skeletal layers &ndash; imagine doing this with Dinosaur Construction Kit! It's&nbsp;potentially one of the coolest pieces of software ever created for the Apple II! It NEEDS to be archived!</p> <p>There are even MORE Explore-a-Story series that weren't listed in DataFlow's catalogues as being available on 3.5" disk, but would be very worth preserving despite only having been released on 5.25" disk: <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/explore-a-story-the-sleepy-brown-cow/">Explore-a-Story - The Sleepy Brown Cow</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/explore-a-story-just-around-the-block/">Explore-a-Story - Just Around the Block</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/explore-a-story-a-great-leap/">Explore-a-Story - A Great Leap</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/explore-a-story-the-best-bubble-blower/">Explore-a-Story - The Best Bubble Blower</a>, <a title="Explore-a-Story - The Lima Bean Dream" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/explore-a-story-the-lima-bean-dream/" target="_blank">Explore-a-Story - The Lima Bean Dream</a>.</p> <p>I've also compiled a quick list of other 8-bit educational titles released on 3.5" that were included in DataFlow's catalogues, which should prove they were released and worth pursuing creating images of them:&nbsp;Banner Books - On the Streets Where You Live</p> <p>Banner Books - All Along the Alphabet - by Pelican Software</p> <p>Banner Books - Hiking Though Habitats - by Pelican Software</p> <p>Big Book Maker - Cute &amp; Cuddly - by Pelican Software</p> <p>Big Book Maker - Feeling Good About Yourself - by Pelican Software</p> <p>Big Book Maker - Aussie Art - by Pelican Software</p> <p>Alice in Wonderland &amp; The Wizard of Oz - by Pelican Software</p> <p>Beauty and the Beast / The Little Mermaid - by Pelican Software</p> <p>Animals with Attitude - by Pelican Software</p> <p>Dinosaur Days - by Pelican Software</p> <p>Robin Hood / Peter Pan - by Pelican Software</p> <p>Easy as ABC - Springboard Software</p> <p>Early Games for Young Children - Springboard Software</p> <p>Math Word Problems - Optimum Resource</p> <p>2nd Math - by Stone &amp; Associates</p> <p>Logo Works: Lessons in Logo - by Terrapin Software</p> <p>Kinderlogo - by Terrapin Software</p> <p>Also, thanks to the Dataflow catalogues, I think I've discovered why some Unicorn Software releases (Phonics Fun, Fraction Action, Decimal Dungeon, Percentage Panic, Ghostly Grammar) have been impossible to find - it's because some or all were actually released for 8-bit Apple II models, and Fraction Action has been recently cracked by 4am. I'll keep an eye out for IIGS versions, but there's a good chance they were only ever released for the IIe and IIc.</p> <p>Last but not least, I also discovered that the image I scanned for Word Attack Plus! Vocabulary was in fact for Word Attack Plus! itself! I thought it was a data disk! Always nice to know I had something in my collection under my very nose. So the entry for Word Attack Plus! Vocabulary has been removed, and the box scan I've had of that has been given to the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/word-attack-plus/">Word Attack Plus!</a>&nbsp;archive entry. I don't always miss the finer details! ;-)</p> <p>So if you've got any of those titles, be sure to create disk images of them using the <a href="http://dreher.net/?s=projects/CFforAppleII&amp;c=projects/CFforAppleII/main.php">CFFA3000</a>&nbsp;(which incidentally a new batch is shipping), DiskCopy on a classic Mac with internal disk drive, or <a href="http://adtpro.sourceforge.net">ADTPro</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/you-can-help/#submit_2image">submit them</a>&nbsp;to What is the Apple IIGS?</p> <p>In other news, Edward Backstrom has written in to remind me that the Byteworks back catalogue of IIGS programing tools is now available much more conveniently through&nbsp;<a href="https://juiced.gs/2015/09/byte-works-opus/">Juiced.GS magazine</a>. If you visit any of the Byteworks archives under the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/programming-applications/">Apps &gt; Programming</a>&nbsp;area, the links to download will now take you to the Opus ][ collection, which includes every Byteworks development tool ever released...and then some.</p> <p>To wrap things up, Mitch Spector wrote in to supply some <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/music-contruction-set/">Music Construction Set</a>&nbsp;tunes. In Mitch's words: "(This is a) Collection of Music Construction Set songs, 30 in total, including some unique and originally composed pieces. Arranged by Francois Labelle, from Montreal, Canada. Francois sent these to me back in 1992. From what I recall, he composed these in his early youth (only 12-14 years old?), when he belonged to a local computer club in Montreal. They had several different platforms, but the IIGS is what interested him, and that's what lead to these MCS pieces. And his eventual purchase of a GS. Mostly classical music pieces here, but extremely well done. Have a listen to some of the Beethoven pieces (Clair du Lune) and APO Le Theme is kinda cool, reminds me of stuff Miami software did....Space Shark theme. I'll try and dig up his Soundsmith music pieces, those were really awesome. He also started programming a MOD tracker and composer, which unfortunately was never finished. Still have it here in my archive. Think it was called "Track-It!".</p> <p>The new MCS tracks can be found in the .zip archive on the disk image 'Music Construction Set Beatles &amp; Einstein.2mg'.</p> Sat, 14 Nov 2015 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/8-bit-on-3-5-disk-educational-titles-updates/ Music Construction Set - Classical Music Data Disk Added http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/music-construction-set-classical-music-data-disk-added/ <p><a href="http://www.bytecellar.com">Blake Patterson</a>&nbsp;asked on the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/5251478676/">Apple II Enthusiasts Facebook group</a>&nbsp;whether any more <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/music-contruction-set/">Music Construction Set</a>&nbsp;disks were made available by Electronic Arts and&nbsp;<a href="http://www.bithistory.org">Garrett Meiers</a>&nbsp;has been able to image the EA official Classical Music data disk for MCS. All tracks were sequenced by Doug Fulton, who also provided the tracks that came on the program disk (not to mention having written the music for <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/zany-golf/">Zany Golf</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/immortal-the/">The Immortal</a>). The Classical Music disk has been added to the archive along with other recent additions of music by Fran&ccedil;ois&nbsp;Labelle, provided by Mitch Spector, and the Player Demo Disk, provided by Antoine Vignau. Question is - are there any other official EA released MSC data disks not on archive yet? Or does anyone else have more tracks from other sources, like Public Domain Exchange? Check with everything that's now included in the MCS .zip archive and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/you-can-help/#submit_2image">write in</a>&nbsp;if you think you have more!</p> Sat, 21 Nov 2015 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/music-construction-set-classical-music-data-disk-added/ GEOS Archive Added http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/geos-archive-added/ <p>I'd been playing around with GEOS, the 8-bit suite of productivity apps and almost operating system by Berkley Software when Mike and Quinn of the Open Apple Podcast dedicated a whole episode of it to GEOS...which prompted me to complete my prepared 2image archive of it including every module ever released for the Apple II version, all configured for the Apple IIGS specifically. Find the full details on WITA2GS? archive <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/geos/">page for GEOS</a>.</p> Sun, 29 Nov 2015 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/geos-archive-added/ Kaboom! Archive Added http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/kaboom-archive-added/ <p>I've just added the rather excellent <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/kaboom/">Kaboom!</a>&nbsp;Bomberman clone for the IIGS by NinjaForce to the illustrious best of freeware and shareware games category, where it now rightfully resides next to classics like&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/dueltris/">DuelTris</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/wolfenstein-3d/">Wolf3D</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/bouncing-bluster/">Bouncing Bluster</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/columns/">Columns</a>, Pangea's, Ken Franklin's, Brutal Deluxe's, Miami Software's games.</p> Tue, 01 Dec 2015 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/kaboom-archive-added/ More 8-bit on 3.5" Disk Additions http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/more-8-bit-on-3-5-disk-additions/ <p>4am continues his sterling archiving work, which has also included 3.5" disk versions of the original <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/spell-it/">Spell It!</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/grammar-gremlins/">Grammar Gremlins</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/alge-blaster-plus/">Alge Blaster Plus!</a>&nbsp;They've been included on What is the Apple IIGS? as one of our aims is to continue archiving all 3.5" disk based commercial software for the Apple II, including 8-bit and IIGS specific wares. I think all that's missing now is the original Math Blaster on 3.5" and the Davidson collection of disk images will be complete (but let me know if I've forgotten another title).</p> <p>Antoine's also submitted a box scan for <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/death-sword/">Death Sword</a>, an 8-bit game that can also run from 3.5" disks (and hard drives too!).</p> Sat, 19 Dec 2015 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/more-8-bit-on-3-5-disk-additions/ Patented Late Christmas Presents http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/patented-late-christmas-presents/ <p>It's that time of year again where I plan to add content to What is the Apple IIGS? but am almost always late in doing so to tie it into some holiday cheer. Anyways, without further ado, we've got a load of new manual scans thanks to Antoine Vignau (who is this guy? never heard of him!):</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/productivity-applications/">MultiscribeGS</a>&nbsp;(1987 and 1988), <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/dyoh-interiors/">Design Your Own Home: Interiors</a>&nbsp;(new, clearer scans),&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/music-studio-v2-0/">Music Studio v1.0</a>&nbsp;(in addition to the existing v2.0 manual),&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/teleworks-plus/">Teleworks GS</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/greek-mythology/">Talking Greek Mythology</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/talking-addition-and-subtraction/">Talking Addition &amp; Subtraction</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/talking-speller/">Talking Speller</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/talking-classroom/">Talking Classroom</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/story-starters-science/">Story Starters Science</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/the-whole-neighborhood/">The Whole Neighborhood</a>, and <a title="Think Quick!" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/think-quick/" target="_blank">Think Quick!</a></p> <p>You'll find the manuals available as download links after the 2image download links for each title.</p> <p>In our ever continuing quest to find and archive all known 8-bit software on 3.5" disk, with a current focus on Davidson Software titles, we've come across even more. Antoine keenly spotted original <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/math-blaster/">Math Blaster</a>&nbsp;on eBay, bought it, cracked it and it's now imaged for the first time on 3.5" disk, that doesn't require any disk swapping of the original 5.25" disk release.</p> <p>Thinking that was the last of the 3.5" disk releases for Davidson, 4am found&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/vocabulary-team-health-science/">Vocabulary Team Health &amp; Science</a>. Released in 1990, this puts it as one of the last Davidson titles. It's using the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/word-attack-plus/">Word Attack Plus!</a>&nbsp;engine for its content, so it's like a data disk. This prompted Antoine to take another look at cracking a title I found in 2014 called <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/reading-team-people-and-places/">Reading Team People and Places</a>&nbsp;and he's since been able to deprotect it. This one uses <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/read-n-roll/">Read n Roll</a>&nbsp;for an engine, so again, it seems to be a new data disk. But we haven't yet found any information on these two titles - if anyone can shed any light on them, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/submit-news/">let us know</a>.</p> <p>Antoine's also submitted a scan for the original <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/word-attack/">Word Attack</a>&nbsp;packaging, and visiting the old family home over Christmas, I was surprised to see I had fully boxed versions of original <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/math-blaster/">Math Blaster</a>&nbsp;(5.25" edition) and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/spell-it/">Spell It!</a>&nbsp;(5.25" edition) for which I've scanned the covers for. I hope to get round to scanning the manuals shortly. Speaking of which, I've been perusing the manuals for the 'Plus' series of Davidson titles and apparently the data disks that were available for&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/word-attack/">Word Attack</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/spell-it/">Spell It!</a>&nbsp;could also be used with the Plus versions...so I hope someone can archive those data disks out there!</p> <p>I also got around to scanning my <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/drew-tdx/">Drew ][ TDX stereo card</a>&nbsp;and created an archive entry for it, including details on how to contact Drew if you're interested in one of these cards.</p> <p>And this comes up all to often now that when a new year ticks over, news from years 2009 onwards isn't easily accessible via the site, which is a major oversight on my part, but I'd rather redo the site than keep adding band aids to it. One day. Anyway, to access old news, do so here:</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2015">2015</a></p> <p><a title="2014" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2014" target="_blank">2014</a></p> <p><a title="2013" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2013" target="_blank">2013</a></p> <p><a title="2012" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2012" target="_blank">2012</a></p> <p><a title="2011" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2011" target="_blank">2011</a></p> <p><a title="2010" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2010" target="_blank">2010</a></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> Sun, 10 Jan 2016 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/patented-late-christmas-presents/ Monte Carlo – now playing from System 6 and a Hard Drive Near You http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/monte-carlo-now-playing-from-system-6-and-a-hard-drive-near-you/ <p>Antoine's been doing overtime with a series new cracks from the originals of IIGS software that he has...which we'll be collecting on the site.</p> <p>But in the meantime, here's not only a fresh crack for <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/monte-carlo/">Monte Carlo</a>, the 1987 casino simulation from PBI Software, but now it finally works from&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/system-6-0-1/">System 6</a>, as well as a hard drive (although Antoine says it always worked from a large volume, although I never managed it from the previous crack still held in the archive). Antoine's disassembled the program with the Flaming Bird Disassembler, tweaked the code, and re-assembled with <a href="http://www.brutaldeluxe.fr/products/crossdevtools/merlin/">Merlin 32</a>.</p> <p>You can download the individual archive from the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/monte-carlo/">Monte Carlo</a>&nbsp;page, or enjoy it from the&nbsp;<img class="left" style="border: 0px initial initial;" title="null" src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/Uploads/_resampled/ResizedImage1515-icdisc.gif" alt="" hspace="null" vspace="null" width="15" height="15" align="null" />&nbsp;<a title="Adventure and Simulation Games" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/Adventure_and_Sim_Games.zip">Adventure and Simulation Games</a>&nbsp;32meg archive, complete with customised icon. You can always copy this version to your own hard drive image if you wish.</p> <p>Hopefully Antoine can give this treatment to other titles, if the disassembled code isn't too messy to put back together again.</p> Tue, 12 Jan 2016 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/monte-carlo-now-playing-from-system-6-and-a-hard-drive-near-you/ More Manuals and That's How You Finish Ancient Glory http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/more-manuals-and-that-s-how-you-finish-ancient-glory/ <p>To my surprise, I came across the fully packaged 5.25" disk editions of original <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/math-blaster/">Math Blaster</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/spell-it/">Spell It</a>&nbsp;amongst my retro collection in storage in the old family home. I've scanned the boxes and the manuals for each of them, making them complete archives thanks to the 3.5" disk cracks provided by <a href="http://www.brutaldeluxe.fr">Antoine</a>&nbsp;and <a href="https://twitter.com/a2_4am">4am</a>.</p> <p>Additionally, I came across my manual for <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/8-16-paint/">816 Paint</a>&nbsp;(adding to Andrew Roughan's earlier contribution of the 816 Teacher's Guide) and&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/renegade-8-bit/">Renegade</a>&nbsp;(the 8-bit version on 3.5" disk - if you know anything about the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/renegade/">unreleased IIGS version</a>, be sure to write in) and I've included them on the site as well.</p> <p>Last but not least, fellow Australian <a href="https://twitter.com/Macaw45">McCaw</a>&nbsp;has provided a <a href="https://www.twitch.tv/macaw45/v/31565895">complete walkthrough of the IIGS only game Ancient Glory</a>. I've never managed to complete the game myself, finding it frustrating about the trial and error you have to endure to get anywhere near the end. In my case, seeing this made me realise that I could get a spear from&nbsp;Stymphalus and use that as a weapon against the horned underwater demi-god...I've said too much. Enjoy, but be prepared for some classic Australian colourful language ;-)</p> Tue, 19 Jan 2016 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/more-manuals-and-that-s-how-you-finish-ancient-glory/ Skate or Die and Pirates now ROM03 compatible! Marble Madness can now be finished! http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/skate-or-die-and-pirates-now-rom03-compatible-marble-madness-can-now-be-finished/ <p><a href="https://twitter.com/antoine_vignau">Antoine's</a>&nbsp;been creating fresh cracks (all of which I hope to collate to include in this archive but at the moment I'm pressed for time as I've started the process of moving house) for IIGS games, apps and educational wares for which there have already been working cracks, but doing it again from Antoine's available original disks yields some pleasant results not previously available.</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/skate-or-die/">Skate or Die</a>&nbsp;is now compatbile with the ROM03. Antoine's disassembled the program and tried to make code more efficient, but reassembling has resulted in a few issues themselves that will need more time to iron out. In the meantime however, we have a newly cracked version of the game that will now work on ROM03 machines, but will still need to booted from the early version of ProDOS 16 provided on the disk image. It's not System 6 compatible, that's for sure.</p> <p>Additionally, a fresh crack of <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/marble-madness/">Marble Madness</a>&nbsp;has been made. I'm particularly happy about this because in the last couple of years, I noticed that the game wasn't going to let you complete it because the disappearing bridges at the very end of the game wouldn't display properly - an obvious glitch, but caused by a bad crack or a bad disk that was cracked and then propagated? At any rate, it's now fixed. Alas, System 6 and hard drive installation compatibility is not likely to be forthcoming Antoine hinted.</p> <p>Also, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/pirates-/">Pirates!</a>&nbsp;now works on ROM03 IIGS. This is the Man-o-war version, and I received it a couple of years ago and I can't remember who submitted it! Anyway, the included docs state that this rewrite uses more memory if its available and doesn't require a separate save game disk. Undocumented, however, is that it also works on ROM03! Happy days!</p> <p>I hope to report back on other enhanced versions of cracks as Antoine makes his way through cracking all his original IIGS disks...</p> Tue, 26 Jan 2016 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/skate-or-die-and-pirates-now-rom03-compatible-marble-madness-can-now-be-finished/ Celebrating Apple's 40th with Some Updates! http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/celebrating-apple-s-40th-with-some-updates/ <p>It's been 40 years since Apple first became an official company and naturally, we shouldn't expect too much fanfare from the company itself in regards to its <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtY0K2fiFOA">previous efforts</a>. So I'm hoping to spread a little curated IIGS content so we can remember that Apple wasn't always just a smart phone manufacturer.</p> <p><a href="http://www.brutaldeluxe.fr">Antoine Vignau</a>&nbsp;(remember that guy?) has been able to procure and crack the rare 3.5" disk version of <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/ancient-art-of-war/">The Ancient Art of War</a>. Hooray! He's also scanned the box for the title. That currently leaves <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/centauri-alliance/">Centauri Alliance</a>, another official Broderbund release on 3.5" disk, to be archived to a working disk image. <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/submit-news/">Write in</a>&nbsp;if you can provide one.</p> <p>Antoine's also sourced boxed copies of <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/blue-angels/">Blue Angels</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/heat-wave/">Heatwave</a>, two games from Accolade that got cancelled for the IIGS, and scanned the boxes which are now included in those archives. Alas, a working disk image for Heatwave has yet to be found. However, Antoine's done a bit of detective work and discovered that the programmer behind the Blue Angels conversion was <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/serve-and-volley/">Serve and Volley</a>&nbsp;programmer&nbsp;Jeffrey J. Sigler. So we'll see if he's contactable and can shed any more light on those unreleased titles.</p> <p>As always, follow <a href="https://twitter.com/antoine_vignau">Antoine on Twitter</a>&nbsp;for his recent fresh cracks of IIGS software, which I will collate into this archive in the long term, but for now, will only be including the special cracks &ndash; you know, the ones that make a previously ROM03 incompatible title play friendly, or are now System 6 compatible or hard drive installable.</p> <p>Also, Stavros&nbsp;Karatsoridis has uncovered <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/hyperstudio-clip-art/">HyperStudio Clip Art volumes 1 and 2</a>&nbsp;from Roger Wagner Publishing. Both disks include excellent 640 mode graphics, icons, animations for use in HyperStudio (or any other program that supports 640 mode graphics).</p> <p>Thanks Stavros! We salute you!</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> Sat, 02 Apr 2016 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/celebrating-apple-s-40th-with-some-updates/ Springboard Publisher Archive Added http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/springboard-publisher-archive-added/ <p>Thanks yet again to Antoine, we have a full disk image archive of <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/springboard-publisher/">Springboard Publisher</a>&nbsp;and all of its accessories (that we know of) including a scan of the original packaging.</p> <p>I hope to include more <a title="8-bit apps that were released in the 3.5&quot; disk format" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/8-bit-apps-on-3-5-disk/" target="_blank">8-bit apps that were released in the 3.5" disk format</a>&nbsp;that include full disk image archives and scans of packaging and manuals.</p> Tue, 05 Apr 2016 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/springboard-publisher-archive-added/ The Work of the French United Crackers Klan Now Fully Archived http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/the-work-of-the-french-united-crackers-klan-now-fully-archived/ <p>Thanks to the hard work of Antoine Vignau, <a href="http://www.brutaldeluxe.fr/tribute/fuck/">the complete works of the French United Crackers Klan</a>, AKA 'The FUCK', AKA, Miami Software has been fully archived.</p> <p>Including the IIGS games they cracked (<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/chess-master-2100/">Chess Master 2100</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/pirates-/">Pirates!</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/strip-poker-ii/">Strip Poker II</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/alien-mind/">Alien Mind</a>&nbsp;(which has always been included on WITA2GS? as the only cracked version of this classic game), <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/arkanoid-ii/">Arkanoid II</a>&nbsp;(with a raft of key strokes for great cheats) and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/tunnels-of-armageddon/">Tunnels of Armageddon</a>) and the demos for which they were well known for (Music on the Beach volumes, 4th Dimension, Hot Cookies to name only some) the archive also includes the programs they developed (<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/zzcopy-v2-21/">ZZCopy</a>&nbsp;and other utilities) and the games they wrote (Reversal, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/space-cluster/">Space Cluster</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/space-shark/">Space Shark</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/teenage-queen/">Teenage Queen</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/sensei/">Sensei</a>).</p> <p>Not only that, but source code to most of these productions is available for all and sundry to take a look at it! What are you waiting for? While you're waitin for the download to complete, <a href="http://www.brutaldeluxe.fr/tribute/fuck/">read the full history of the FUCK and Miami Software</a>.</p> Fri, 08 Apr 2016 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/the-work-of-the-french-united-crackers-klan-now-fully-archived/ Kaboom! goes version 1.02 to support new 4Play Joystick Card http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/kaboom-goes-version-1-02-to-support-new-4play-joystick-card/ <p>WOzFest /// was held in the mancave of Sean McNamara in Sydney Australia last night and not just being a gathering of Apple II enthusiasts and a plethora of hardware to be played with, swapped and fixed, it was also a forum to announce Alex&nbsp;Lukacz's new hardware project - <a href="http://lukazi.blogspot.com.au/2016/04/apple-ii-4play-joystick-card.html">the 4Play Joystick Adapter</a>...which just happens to coincide with version 1.02 of <a href="http://www.ninjaforce.com/html/products_kaboom.html">Kaboom</a>! (I'm being whimiscal here, of course it was a coordinated effort), the simply amazing Bomberman style game for the IIGS by Ninja Force of Germany, which now supports up to 4 player joystick controlled action with the card - no more crowding around the keyboard! The new Kaboom also enhances stability for AI players - crash free gameplay - yay!</p> <p>Also announced, but for which no details exist online yet, is the new&nbsp;4soniq sound card - forget stereo output - this baby will do surround sound output from the IIGS! How exciting!</p> <p>The Kaboom updates can be had from <a href="http://www.ninjaforce.com/html/news.html">NinjaForce's website</a>, or the archive contained on <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/kaboom/">WITA2GS?</a>&nbsp;I've also updated the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/Games_with_Path_Mods.zip">&nbsp;32meg volume Games with Path Mods</a>&nbsp;where it sits amongst all hard drive hacks for games that need a little special care when it comes to running from a hard drive.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p> <div class="image left" style="width: 600;"> <div class="image left" style="width: 500;"> <div class="image left" style="width: 500;"><img src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/Uploads/Submissions/_resampled/ResizedImage500375-4playKaboom.JPG" alt="" width="500" height="375" /></div> <br /></div> <br /></div> </p> Sat, 30 Apr 2016 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/kaboom-goes-version-1-02-to-support-new-4play-joystick-card/ 4Soniq Card Details Emerge http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/4soniq-card-details-emerge/ <p>Jon Co, one of the Australian developers of the 4Soniq card recently announced at WOzFest /// now has an official press release with details of the card. Go to&nbsp;<a href="http://manilagear.com/product/4soniq-sound-card/">their site</a>&nbsp;to check it out.</p> Tue, 10 May 2016 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/4soniq-card-details-emerge/ More Manual Mania http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/more-manual-mania/ <p>Time for some more manuals to provide a useful written background to all these apps and games we have on archive.</p> <p>Fran&ccedil;ois Michaud has kindly submitted manual scans for the database program <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/notes-n-files/">Notes n Files</a>&nbsp;and the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/ast-ramstak-plus/">AST RamStack Plus</a>.</p> <p>Antoine Vignau, never wanting to be left out, has submitted scans of documentation for&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/drive-cleaner/">Drive Cleaner</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/draw-plus/">Draw Plus</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/postcards/">Postcards</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/talking-speller/">Talking Speller</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/greek-mythology/">Talking Greek Mythology</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/talking-addition-and-subtraction/">Talking Addition &amp; Subtraction</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/talking-classroom/">Talking Classroom</a>.</p> <p>4am has submitted many more manuals for 8-bit titles on 3.5" disk: <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/alge-blaster/">Alge Blaster</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/bank-street-writer-plus/">Bank Street Writer III</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/spell-it-plus/">Spell It! Plus</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/dark-heart-of-uukrul-the/">The Dark Heart of Uukrul</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/math-blaster-plus-8-bit/">Math Blaster Plus</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/monsters-make-believe/">Monsters &amp; Make-Believe</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/word-attack-plus/">Word Attack Plus</a>. UPDATE: a few more manuals have been added: <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/reader-rabbit/">Reader Rabbit</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/speed-reader/">Speed Reader II</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/sensible-speller/">Sensible Speller</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/writer-rabbit/">Writer Rabbit</a>.</p> Wed, 11 May 2016 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/more-manual-mania/ Roger Wagner Publishing Title Updates and Tweaks to the System Add-ons and 8-bit Games 32meg Images http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/roger-wagner-publishing-title-updates-and-tweaks-to-the-system-add-ons-and-8-bit-games-32meg-images/ <p>Mike Maginnis, of the <a href="http://www.open-apple.net">Open Apple Podcast</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.apple2scans.net">apple2scans</a>&nbsp;opened a can of worms when <a href="https://twitter.com/6502lane">he shared on Twitter</a>&nbsp;that he'd scanned the manual to Macromate, a classic desk accessory for the IIGS that was released by Roger Wagner Publishing back in 1988. I asked Mike if I could include the PDF based manual on the Macromate archive on WITA2GS? Except when I went to check, I didn't actually have an archive page for Macromate! Whoops. A quick check of all my archives revealed a copy that wouldn't boot to the provided system, so I asked Antoine if he had another and sure enough, he did. So now we have a fully working disk image archive including the manual and some screen shots of <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/macromate/">Macromate</a>!</p> <p>As part of the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/macromate/">Macromate</a>&nbsp;documentation, it includes info on a program written by Dave Lyons called P8CDA. This utility allows you to load IIGS specific classic desk accessories WITHOUT booting ProDOS 16 or GS/OS, using ProDOS 8 only, but using the same System/Desk.Accs file path as GS/OS. How ingenious I thought! Again, I trawled through all my archives and to my surprise, came across it as a v1.1 shareware vesion, presumably before Roger Wagner picked it to publish commercially. I've since added it to my comprehensive System Add-ons volume that tries to collect every freeware and shareware system extension ever made &ndash; take a look in the CDAs folder. If anyone has the Roger Wagner version, which hopefully is newer than the v1.1 shareware version, let me know. Apparently P8CDA has some limitations - it isn't compatible with a lot of newer CDAs, i.e. CDAs made after its release that took advantage of newer features of GS/OS, but it's worth trying to see what works.</p> <p>Macromate and Roger Wagner Publishing's other release at the same time, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/soft-switch/">Softswitch</a>, could really benefit from P8CDA. Imagine having AppleWorks, a double-hi-res paint program, a DTP program all running together in <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/soft-switch/">Softswitch</a>, and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/macromate/">Macromate</a>&nbsp;also accessible from the control panel? Potentially, not a bad setup, even with a IIGS with only 1 meg of RAM.</p> <p>I've also added P8CDA to my&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/8-bit_Games.zip">8-bit Games</a>&nbsp;image, which is a collection of classic 8-bit games that you can run from a <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/time-out-for-some-8-bit-fun-iigs-style/">hard drive and System 6</a>. You could already boot this image (or use it through System 6 and DOS 3.3 launcher to play 8-bit games via the IIGS Finder) but now you also get the great little desk accessories 'BW' (which changes colour hi-res to black and white hi-res and a neat shortcut to changing the IIGS speed to fast or normal without having to go into the inbuilt control panels, and then speed, and then to tunnel out of those options to exit again. In addition to this, I've also included the recent ProDOS hacks that qkumba has done, including Conan, Karateka, Impossible Mission II, Lady Tut, Mr Do, Moon Patrol, Swashbuckler to name but a few.</p> <p>But wait, that's not all! Antoine has also supplied a rare <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/hyperstudio-clip-sounds-vol/">Hyperstudio Clip Sounds</a>&nbsp;bundle &ndash; including 2 disks worth of great sound effects I'd never heard before on the IIGS and also some XCMDs to use in your own stacks. It even comes with the manual! Antoine's also been able to supply the manual for <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/hyperstudio-clip-art/">Hyperstudio Clip Art</a>, which has nicely revealed it was Donald McIntosh who created all the clip art. While doing this, I noticed I didn't have the 'active' flag set for the Triad Venture Hypermedia extras I included to the site a couple of years ago - whoops! These are now visible from the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/hypermedia-applications/">Hypermedia</a>&nbsp;category on the site.</p> <p>UPDATE: Thanks to Antoine, the commercial release of <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/p8cda/">P8CDA</a>, including its manual, has been included in the archive as well. It now also allows the loading of INITs, as well as CDAs. Wonders will never cease!</p> Wed, 01 Jun 2016 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/roger-wagner-publishing-title-updates-and-tweaks-to-the-system-add-ons-and-8-bit-games-32meg-images/ Obscure Educational 8-bit titles on 3.5" Disk Added to the Archive http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/obscure-educational-8-bit-titles-on-3-5-disk-added-to-the-archive/ <p>Leaving no stone unturned, Antoine has been able to provide some fairly obscure (read, I'm not 100% sure what these programs do) educational software that was developed for 8-bit Apple IIs, but with the convenience of being a single 3.5" disk instead of across multiple 5.25" disks.</p> <p>The first title is <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/40-000-selected-words/">40,000 Selected Words</a>, which seems be literally just that - a database of that many words that are accessed by choosing different phonetic inclusions across those words...which you can then print. Why you'd want to, I'm not sure. But I'm sure teachers could find lots of valid uses for this software.</p> <p>The other title is <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assist-woodcock-reading-mastery-tests/">Assist Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests</a>, which as far as I can tell, is a way to collate test results from a standardised way of written examinations (?).</p> <p>if you feel like you've mastered every other type of Apple II software out there, why not set yourself a new challenge and figure these two out! The full manuals are included to help make your quest a little easier. Antoine's also scanned the front covers and disk art for these titles.</p> <p>Also, Antoine's found the short manual for <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/triad-venture-clip-art/">Triad Venture's&nbsp;Hyper Stuff Collection Clip Art Plus</a>.</p> <p>Oh, and I discovered that What is the Apple IIGS? now has 1002 archive entries. Whew.</p> Thu, 23 Jun 2016 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/obscure-educational-8-bit-titles-on-3-5-disk-added-to-the-archive/ Alien Mind crack now ROM03 compatible and a single volume for CFFA3000! http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/alien-mind-crack-now-rom03-compatible-and-a-single-volume-for-cffa300/ <p>A long time ago (that it feels like it could be from a galaxy far, far away) the French United Crackers Klan cracked the classic IIGS only game&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/alien-mind/">Alien Mind</a>. This crack had to circumvent the game's customised operating system and disk format (which allowed for 920k of data on a double density disk!), which meant when you include a save game disk, it required four 3.5" disks to play! If you had the original disks to Alien Mind (mine survive to this day) it would work fine a ROM03 IIGS, but the crack unfortunately would only work on ROM01 machines.</p> <p>Regardless of the crack,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/alien-mind/">Alien Mind</a>&nbsp;(and other games <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/tomahawk/">Tomahawk</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/hunt-for-red-october-the/">Hunt for Red October</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/gate/">GATE</a>, as well as FTA, FUCK and many other customised OS demos) would not work with the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/cffa300/">CFFA3000</a>&nbsp;either, their boot routines relying on the IWM chip utilised by the 3.5" disk drive - which the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/cffa300/">CFFA3000</a>&nbsp;can't tap into.</p> <p>Until now. Newcomer '<a href="https://ballmerpeak.org">Ballmerpeak</a>' has hacked the FUCK crack to make it work on the ROM03. And then went one giant, massively convenient step further - hacking together ALL four disks into a single volume that will boot and play from the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/cffa300/">CFFA3000</a>&nbsp;or emulators. You don't need to swap disks, even for saving and resuming games now. Heaven. He's written a write up for the hack in <a href="https://ballmerpeak.org/alien_mind_part1/">one</a>&nbsp;and <a href="https://ballmerpeak.org/alien_mind_part2/">two</a>&nbsp;parts. You can download Balmerpeak's work from the archives found on the links in this post to What is the Apple IIGS? archives or from <a href="https://ballmerpeak.org">Ballmerpeak's own site</a>.</p> <p>Not only has Ballmerpeak greatly enhanced&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/alien-mind/">Alien Mind</a>, but he's also made the only fighting game for the IIGS, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/sensei/">Sensei</a>, compatible with the CFFA3000. At the moment, <a href="https://ballmerpeak.org/sensei_cffa3k/">high scores are not supported</a>, but hopefully they will be in a future update. As well as the classic FTA demo&nbsp;<a href="https://ballmerpeak.org/modulae_cffa3k/">Modulae</a>.</p> <p>I'm quietly hoping that Ballmerpeak has more hacks in the pipeline and that further announcements will be made around&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kansasfest.org">KansasFest</a>...along with a lot of other exciting news to coincide with the biggest annual event on the Apple II calendar. Don't miss it if you can make it to&nbsp;Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Missouri, July 19-24 2016.</p> Sat, 25 Jun 2016 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/alien-mind-crack-now-rom03-compatible-and-a-single-volume-for-cffa300/ Genie & Delphi Archives Via MacGUI Vault http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/genie-delphi-archives-via-macgui-vault/ <p>David Finnigan, of <a href="http://macgui.com">MacGUI.com</a>, has been able to restore the file and message archives of the <a href="http://macgui.com/genie/">Genie and Delphi services</a>&nbsp;that were great resources for Apple II users back in the '90s.</p> <p>I've had fun sifting through those archives to see what might have been missing from the archives on What is the Apple IIGS? I found a newer version of the handy image and animation displayer Show Me NDA and Finder Extra (v1.1.1) and some additional icons (if you've got a Zip drive working with the your IIGS, you're going to love those). These have been updated on the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/System_Addons.zip">System Add-ons</a>&nbsp;volume. Another interesting find was SpeedRead Plus v3.2, a shareware text viewer from 1999 by Terry Morris that can read text files (of any format, including AppleWorks and AppleWorks GS), very quickly and of any size regardless of memory limitations, as well as adding bookmarks for you to come back to later. That's been placed on the&nbsp;<a title="Productivity and Graphics" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/Productivity_and_Graphics.zip">Productivity &amp; Visual Creative</a>&nbsp;32meg volume in the 'SW.Productivity' folder. An older v2.2 version of the NDA version of this is also on the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/System_Addons.zip">System Add-ons</a>&nbsp;volume, in the 'NDAs/Text.Editors' folder. If anyone has the newer v3.2 NDA, be sure to write in with it - it might just replace my tried and true Hermes NDA for reading and editing text files. Also, DeleteGS was found, a cute app that will securely delete files so there's no chance of them ever being recoverable. That's been placed on the&nbsp;<a title="Audio and Utilities" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/Audio_and_Utilities.zip">Utilities &amp; Aural Creative</a>&nbsp;volume. You'll also find on that volume updated versions of the recent utility programs by <a href="http://speccie.uk/software/">Ewen Wannop</a>&nbsp;- Chewbagger, Phoenix and BrkDown.</p> <p>For games, I found an update (v2.5 from v2.4) for the Bill Hamshire card game Euchure, which you can find on the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/harddrive_image.zip">System 6 and freeware and shareware games volume</a>. I also came across some saved tank designs for the commercial game Omega. I've placed them in the&nbsp;<a title="Adventure and Simulation Games" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/Adventure_and_Sim_Games.zip">Adventure and Simulation Games</a>&nbsp;volume, in the Omega folder called 'Other.Tanks'.</p> <p>The really big find were several archives of Nathan Mates' work on enhanced modules for the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/twilight-ii-v1-1/">Twlight II</a>&nbsp;screen saver. These efforts would have constituted v2.0 had it been completely finished. It includes the newest version of the Flying Toasters (Toast) I've come across and now also includes the Aquarium (Fish) &ndash; two memorable modules 'borrowed' from the classic After Dark screen saver for the Mac and Windows. There's also S.L.E.D., a major improvement on the L.E.D. module, which affectively lets you create your own scolling texts (like from scene demos) with lots of effects, which you can easily setup using script like commands. There's also Flames, for demo scene style illumination to prevent screen burn-in. There are the games MultiTris, Power Grid and Mine Hunt, however these required the newer v2.0 executable - which has yet to be archived. Even out of all these new and improved modules, there still isn't a nice simple slideshow one that will display common IIGS image formats from a folder - anyone want to volunteer to write such a module? To get the new and updated modules, simply re-download the 2image archive again from the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/twilight-ii-v1-1/">title's entry</a>, and copy the items from three disk images to the Twlight II folder that you'll need to pre-install if you haven't already installed it.</p> Sat, 13 Aug 2016 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/genie-delphi-archives-via-macgui-vault/ Happy 30th Anniversary Apple IIGS! http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/happy-30th-anniversary-apple-iigs/ <p>On this day 30 years ago, Apple released a new computer that was equal parts new and old, pushing and pulling, wonderful yet flawed.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p class="image left" style="width: 640;">&nbsp;</p> <p class="image left" style="width: 507;"><img title="Happy 30th Birthday Apple IIGS! Happy 40th to me!" src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/30th-Anniversary/Happy30th.jpg" alt="Happy 30th Birthday Apple IIGS! Happy 40th to me!" width="507" height="563" /></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>This photo is actually the cake from my 40th birthday held earlier this year that my wife secretly organised. But I needed something both &lsquo;Apple IIGS' and &lsquo;birthday' to kick off a series of posts to help celebrate the 30th anniversary of the IIGS, especially when my originally intended celebration would have been to release the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/the-book-of-the-website/">coffee table book</a>&nbsp;I've been working on all these long years. Alas, life has gotten in the way of that, as has still trying to track down everything devoted to the platform to archive.</p> <p>While seeing my rendered likeness in pure edible icing sugar in all its caricaturist glory, it may look that I've &lsquo;conquered' the IIGS. Alas, when it comes to archiving all IIGS software and hardware, the main aim of this website and the coffee table book, this couldn't be further from the truth.</p> <p>But the work goes on, which will be evident during this week-and-a-bit celebration of the IIGS. Stay tuned over the coming days and I'll unveil some nice new things with which you can enjoy with your IIGS.</p> <p>Happy birthday to our favourite Sweet 16! It's the <a title="cute little flaws that keep a guy interested!" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/the-apple-iigs-or-it-s-the-cute-little-flaws-that-keep-a-guy-interested/" target="_blank">cute little flaws that keep a guy interested!</a></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> Thu, 15 Sep 2016 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/happy-30th-anniversary-apple-iigs/ Day 2 of Apple IIGS 30th Anniversary Celebrations http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/day-2-of-apple-iigs-30th-anniversary-celebrations/ <p>Our second day of IIGS 30th anniversary celebrations involves helping out and then subsequently interviewing the person behind all those excellent Pangea games' graphics - <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/the-iigs-artwork-of-dave-triplett/">Dave Tripplet</a>.</p> Fri, 16 Sep 2016 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/day-2-of-apple-iigs-30th-anniversary-celebrations/ Day 3 of Apple IIGS 30th Anniversary Celebrations (including the 28th Anniversary of the Apple IIc+) http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/day-3-of-apple-iigs-30th-anniversary-celebrations-including-the-28th-anniversary-of-the-apple-iic/ <p>Alas, this is more than a day late, but I ran into some work/technical/toddler issues that prevented me from getting it out on time.</p> <p>But the good news is that day 3 is here! And to celebrate the 28th anniversary of the Apple IIc+, I've majorly revamped the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/8-bit-apps-on-3-5-disk/">8-bit apps on 3.5" disk category</a>&nbsp;- IIGS and IIc+ users get to enjoy it equally (and enhanced IIe owners who've got 3.5" disk drives of some variety connected).</p> <p>Antoine has submitted <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/pfs-plan/">PFS Plan</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/pfs-file-report/">PFS File and Report</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/mousewrite/">MouseWrite</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/on-balance/">On Balance</a>. Joo Jun has submitted <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/pfs-write/">PFS Write</a>. 4am has submitted all major versions of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/copy-ii-9-1/">Copy II+</a>&nbsp;that were available on 3.5" disk.&nbsp;Fran&ccedil;ois Michel, from whom I received his incredibly well archived collection of IIGS software back in 2002, can be thanked for the multiple versions of <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/appleworks/">AppleWorks</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/family-matters/">Family Matters</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/new-print-shop-the/">The New Print Shop</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/print-master-plus/">Print Master Plus</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/personal-newsletter/">Personal Newsletter</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/vcr-companion/">VCR Companion</a>. Paul Hagstrom can be thanked for the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/vcr-companion/">VCR Companion</a>&nbsp;manual scans.&nbsp;Fran&ccedil;ois Michaud can be thanked for the excellent scans of <a title="Publish It!" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/publish-it/" target="_blank">Publish It!</a></p> <p>There will be more to come...</p> Sun, 18 Sep 2016 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/day-3-of-apple-iigs-30th-anniversary-celebrations-including-the-28th-anniversary-of-the-apple-iic/ Day 4 of Apple IIGS 30th Anniversary Celebrations (Star Saga One Completely Documented) http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/day-4-of-apple-iigs-30th-anniversary-celebrations-star-saga-one-completely-documented/ <p>This is something I've been working on for a while and I'm pleased to share it with everyone now that it's complete.</p> <p>Herbert Fung, over a year ago, was very generous in sending over his fully boxed, almost untouched copy of <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/star-saga-one/">Star Saga One: Beyond the Boundary</a>. The package arrived safe and sound here in Melbourne, having come all the way from Herbert's native Canada.</p> <p>The game is quite rare and particularly sought after as one of the designers behind it, Andrew Greenberg, was one of the designers behind the Wizardry series of RPGs. Something of an influence for all role playing games that followed, if you don't already know.</p> <p>Normally, having scans of a IIGS game's manual is a nice thing to have, but in the case of both Star Saga games, it's a necessity. The computer is only one part of multiple pieces to playing the game, those other elements being a board where physical pieces are placed to show progress, character information booklets and story booklets only to be read at the right times dictated by the computer...and ideally, at least one other human player to play with, or as the game supports, up to another 5 human players.</p> <p>Perhaps, with the relatively <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/nov/25/board-games-internet-playstation-xbox">recent resurgence of board games</a>, this particular game now holds even more fascination. I was hoping to get everything scanned and in optimised and high quality PDF format before KansasFest 2016 (because in previous years, the game was attempted to be played but I think fell by the wayside due to its complexity and the hard to ignore activity of the biggest Apple II gathering on the planet), but better late than never. If you've ever been curious about this game, but didn't have a spare $200 to fork out to buy the game when it appears on eBay every couple of years, then now's your chance!</p> <p>But this is not all folks! Stay tuned...we may have complete scans of all the required game materials for <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/star-saga-two-the-clathran-menance/">Star Saga Two: The Clathran Menace</a>&nbsp;to closely follow.</p> Wed, 21 Sep 2016 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/day-4-of-apple-iigs-30th-anniversary-celebrations-star-saga-one-completely-documented/ Day 5 of Apple IIGS 30th Anniversary Celebrations: Illustrating the Past http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/day-5-of-apple-iigs-30th-anniversary-celebrations-illustrating-the-past/ <p>Am I continuing Apple IIGS 30th anniversary celebrations? Yes, yes I am. Depite this update coming much later than the previous ones (which weren't all on consecutive days as I'd originally hoped) for that shouldn't stop new ways we can enjoy the IIGS during it's 30th, or in this case, how we remembered the IIGS.</p> <p>Jeremy Sears wrote in to tell of his initial IIGS experience, or to be more accurate, lack of it. I'll let Jeremy explain in both prose and illustration, but while I was always happy I got an Apple IIGS when I was all of 11 years old, I've recently acquired an Amiga 500+ and an Atari 1024ST, and I feel like I can have fun exploring alternative universes had I got one of those machines instead of the Apple IIGS.</p> <p>From Jeremy:I have an unusually clear memory of the 1st Apple IIGS computer I'd ever seen (or heard about), as a kid.</p> <p>I remember it was set up on its own separate display table, in an alcove, off of my local computer store's main sales room.</p> <p>Wandering away from my family and the sales people, I walked over to this incredible, new machine!</p> <p>It was running software, that automatically was showcasing the IIGS's (whole new!) level of sophistication, in exciting graphics and sound capabilities.</p> <p>This was in late-1986. And the 1st IIGS computers weren't going to be available for sale, for another few months.</p> <p>I'd been wanting an Apple IIe for (what seemed like) so long--</p> <p>and I just wasn't willing to wait another 3 months to get the IIGS instead of the IIe Enhanced.</p> <p>_______________</p> <p>In retrospect, this misaligned timing, apparently left the Apple IIGS in my memory-- as something I really wanted.</p> <p>In around 2010, after not having thought about the Apple IIGS for many years, I had the inspiration to try to build one-- through buying its components on eBay.</p> <p>It took over a year to find great condition IIGS components that were affordable for me-- but I was able to build a great Apple IIGS component system!</p> <p>This also launched the hobby I've been pursuing since then, of building a small, vintage Apple computer &amp; other device collection.</p> <p>But the IIGS always has remained my favorite vintage Apple computer!</p> <p>______________</p> <p>When I considered that September, 2016 was the Apple IIGS's 30th birthday month,</p> <p>I began drawing on my MacBook, just a sketch of a IIGS's basic shape.</p> <p>I thought the sketch looked better than I'd anticipated.</p> <p>So then, over many nights last month, I spent a little time each night, revising &amp; adding to the drawing.</p> <p>By the end of last month, I'd completed this Apple IIGS drawing!</p> <p>I had little experience drawing on computers-- and was using the MacBook's default editing capabilities, when you open any picture file on it.</p> <p>So I was really happy about how the completed IIGS drawing looked!</p> <p> <p class="image left" style="width: 640;"><img title="Jeremy Sears' IIGS Illustration" src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/30th-Anniversary/_resampled/ResizedImage640400-IIGSIllustration.png" alt="Jeremy Sears' IIGS Illustration" width="640" height="400" /></p> </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> Sun, 16 Oct 2016 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/day-5-of-apple-iigs-30th-anniversary-celebrations-illustrating-the-past/ Updates! 8-bit Games Collection! Ultima III Box Scan! KidTalk new version! Computer Eyes GS Newer Driver! http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/updates-8-bit-games-collection-ultima-iii-box-scan-kidtalk-new-version-computer-eyes-gs-newer-driver/ <p>I've been making some updates to my <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/time-out-for-some-8-bit-fun-iigs-style/">8-bit collection of games</a>, thanks to newly released ProDOS conversions of some classic 8-bit games by qkumba. I received feedback that booting from the 8-bit games volume on any Apple II compatible machine other than a IIGS results in a &lsquo;APPLE IIGS REQUIRED' message and then quitting to the new Bitsy Bye (part of the ProDOS 2.4.1 release). This might indicate that my setup for this doesn't work at all on a IIe or IIc/+, but it's not quite the case. Only a IIGS is required to run the P8CDA program, which allows Classic Desk Accessories to launch without ProDOS 16 or GS/OS booting and that provides some useful CDAs on a IIGS playing with these 8-bit games. But you can still select the &lsquo;Boot.system' to play games with DOS 3.3 Launcher or the ProDOS converted games. If you want the &lsquo;APPLE IIGS REQUIRED' message to disappear altogether, just delete the &lsquo;P8CDA.SYS' executable. I'll keep updating this volume when more compatible games come in, but recent additions include my all time favourite 8-bit game, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/airheart-best-of-apple-ii-volume/">Airheart</a>&nbsp;(complete with high score support).</p> <p>Eduardo Correa Lima has provided a scan of his recently acquired fully boxed copy of <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/ultima-iii/">Ultima III Exodus</a>. Thanks Eduardo, it's now had a little Photoshop pixel dust thrown over it and is looking better than ever!</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/kidtalk/">KidTalk</a>&nbsp;- a new disk image from 4am that features a newer version of the program now works from System 6 and a hard drive and comes with an icon! I've updated the specific archive for KidTalk and the 32meg image including all IIGS specific Reading and Mathematics programs - look in the KT folder for the new version. 4am's also scanned manuals for <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/kid-writer-gold/">KidWriter Golden Edition</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/storybook-weaver/">Storybook Weaver</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/storybook-weaver-world-of-make-believe/">Storybook Weaver World of Make Believe</a>.</p> <p>The <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/computer-eyes-gs/">Computer Eyes GS</a>&nbsp;driver software has been updated to version 3.20, which improves stability while capturing images.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> Sun, 23 Oct 2016 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/updates-8-bit-games-collection-ultima-iii-box-scan-kidtalk-new-version-computer-eyes-gs-newer-driver/ Jigsaw Deluxe Recovered and Released After 27 Years http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/jigsaw-deluxe-recovered-and-released-after-27-years/ <p><a href="http://www.brutaldeluxe.fr">Antoine Vignau</a>, never to shy away from a challenge, has been able to restore the contents of <a href="http://www.huibert-aalbers.com">Huibert Aalbers</a>' old hard drive; the same drive used during the developement of his programs <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/jigsaw/">Jigsaw</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/laser-force/">Laser Force</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/soundsmith-v1-01/">SoundSmith</a>. A hard drive that's been in storage since the early '90s.</p> <p>On that drive was the unreleased <a href="http://www.huibert-aalbers.com/AppleIIgs/JigsawDeluxe/index.html">Jigsaw Deluxe</a>, a sequel of sorts to <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/jigsaw/">Jigsaw</a>, but featuring lots of improvements that Huibert would have preferred to include with the original Jigsaw release, such as 2 player mode, saving games, music, greater degrees of difficulty and other improvements.</p> <p>It's a pleasure to add a <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/jigsaw-deluxe/">new archive entry</a>&nbsp;with a disk image in the unreleased section of this archive after quite a long while! Enjoy everyone.</p> <p>Note that Jigsaw Deluxe doesn't come with any new images (apart from the European Software Partners screen and title). Check out the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/Graphics_n_Animation.zip">Graphics &amp; Animation</a>&nbsp;32meg volume in the 'Images.16' folder and others to use as puzzles, or you can always use the images from the original <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/jigsaw/">Jigsaw</a>.</p> Sat, 12 Nov 2016 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/jigsaw-deluxe-recovered-and-released-after-27-years/ More 8-bit on 3.5" Disk Software Added and Just in Time for Christmas http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/more-8-bit-on-3-5-disk-software-added-and-just-in-time-for-christmas/ <p><a href="http://www.brutaldeluxe.fr">Antoine</a>&nbsp;has procured even more never before archived titles:</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/wordbench/">Wordbench</a>&nbsp;- an 8-bit comprehensive word processor by Addison Wesley that came on 2 3.5" disks (as well as multiple 5.25" in the same package).</p> <p>Computeach's <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/studymate/">Studymate</a>&nbsp;-&nbsp;a nifty way to create tests for students and record their results.</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/keymath-assist/">Keymath Assist</a>&nbsp;- another in the series of '<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/obscure-educational-8-bit-titles-on-3-5-disk-added-to-the-archive/">Guess What This Software Even Does</a>'. It's on a nice single 800k image at least!</p> <p>Cannoli Computer Graphics' <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/christmas-time/">Christmas Time</a>, another Toy Shop /&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/hometown-u-s-a-/">Hometown USA</a>&nbsp;/&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/paper-models-the-christmas-kit/">Paper Models the Christmas Kit</a>&nbsp;style set of graphics that you can print from almost any&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/creative-visual/">paint program</a>, fold and put together for Christmas themed paper toys.</p> <p>Additionally, Antoine has been able to provide scans of boxes for <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/wordbench/">Wordbench</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/mickey-s-crossword-puzzle-maker/">Mickey's Crossword Puzzle Maker</a>. <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/mickey-s-crossword-puzzle-maker/">Mickey's Crossword Puzzle Maker</a>&nbsp;also has the advantage of full documentation scans!&nbsp;</p> <p>I've also got to recognise that <a href="http://www.brutaldeluxe.fr">Antoine's</a>&nbsp;taken scans of ALL of the disk labels for these titles (as well as Springboard's GSNumerics and Orange Cherry's Newspaper Maker) &nbsp;- I've yet to develop a method of including them under a new field on What is the Apple IIGS?, but they should be available one day. Thanks again Antoine - the hardest working person dedicated to the preservation AND future of the Apple II.</p> Mon, 14 Nov 2016 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/more-8-bit-on-3-5-disk-software-added-and-just-in-time-for-christmas/ Open Apple Podcast Guest Spot with Yours Truly http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/open-apple-podcast-guest-spot-with-yours-truly/ <p>If you're not already subscibed to the <a href="http://www.open-apple.net">Open Apple Podcast</a>, the most regular podcast devoted to the Apple II, well, you've now got another reason to check it out. <a href="http://www.open-apple.net/2016/12/05/show-065-alex-lee-what-is-the-apple-iigs-software-preservation-softalk/">I recently joined hosts</a>&nbsp;Quinn Dunki and Mike Maginnis for a chat about all things IIGS, how I got started with the platform, how I got started archiving IIGS software and various bits in between. I had a lot of fun &ndash; I hope you will too by listening.</p> <p>You can also find the Open Apple Podcast and subscribe through iTunes or the iOS Podcast app.</p> Tue, 13 Dec 2016 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/open-apple-podcast-guest-spot-with-yours-truly/ Gold Rush Disk Images Taken Offline http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/gold-rush-disk-images-taken-offline/ <p><a href="http://www.sunlight-games.com/en/">Sunlight Games</a>, a German games developer, has informed me they have owned the intellectual property rights to <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/gold-rush/">Gold Rush</a>, the 1989 3D animated adventure game by Sierra, for the last 10 years. They have created an <a href="http://www.goldrush-game.com/en/ver2/media/">enhanced edition of the game, as well as a sequel</a>&nbsp;that are still being sold. Being the rights owners to the property, they've politely asked for the disk images to be removed and I have complied with this request. An entry still remains for Gold Rush, and the PDF based documentation will remain available as well. A link now points to Sunlight Games' official site from the usual link for the disk images on the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/gold-rush/">Gold Rush</a>&nbsp;page.</p> Wed, 14 Dec 2016 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/gold-rush-disk-images-taken-offline/ Knights of Legend Has Fresh Disk Images...But challenge to get 3.5" Installer Working Remains http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/knights-of-legend-has-fresh-disk-images-but-challenge-to-get-3-5-installer-working-remains/ <p>The <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/knights-of-legend/">Knights of Legend</a>&nbsp;archive now also includes recently made disk images by <a href="https://jbretro.wordpress.com">Jeremy Barr Hyde</a>. Using <a href="https://archive.org/details/Passport4am">Passport</a>&nbsp;to crack original disks, we now have some nice new clean cracked disk images. I've progressed further with the 3.5" disk installer, but unfortunately I haven't been completely successful in making this work.</p> <p>Ultimately, I think the 3.5" disk installer is supposed to copy all the contents from the 5.25" floppes A5, A1, A2, A3 and A4 (in that order) [A6 is just the opening animation, which can be skipped during master disk A's bootup holding down the space bar]. It also looks like the 3.5" installer places character disk info onto the 3.5" disk as well. This would mean you'd end up with a single 3.5" 'Region' disk, but you'd still need to play with Master A and Master B 5.25" volumes - but it would negate any disk swapping if you have two 5.25" drives and a single 3.5" disk drive (and potentially, with a FloppyEmu or CFFA3000 you'd have the necessary hardware to run in this configuration).</p> <p>When installing the Region from the game's main menu, the game certainly checks the 3.5" disk drive and seems to find disk A5 from there from the 3.5" disk I've produced with the 3.5" Region installer, but then it asks to find A1, which it then can't find from the 3.5' disk! If only documentation was included with the 3.5" disk installer to make this process clearer! Or maybe it's just my configuration (Apple IIGS ROM01, CFFA3000, one 3.5" disk drive) that's causing problems? If any one else wants to have a go with it, be my guest by downloading the updated .zip image with all the necessary disk images and please share your findings with the rest of the Apple II community.</p> <p>Additionally, the Apple II Reference Card and Player's Handbook are now included so regardless of whether anyone can get the game going with a 3.5" Region disk or not, that should help. Major thanks to <a href="https://jbretro.wordpress.com">Jeremy Barr Hyde</a>&nbsp;for doing this, which came about after discussion on the <a href="http://www.open-apple.net">Open Apple Podcast</a>.</p> Tue, 20 Dec 2016 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/knights-of-legend-has-fresh-disk-images-but-challenge-to-get-3-5-installer-working-remains/ Patented Post Christmas Gift 1 - System 6.0.4 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/patented-post-christmas-gift-1-system-6-0/ <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/system-6-0-x/">System 6.0.4</a>&nbsp;is out! The '<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/system-6-0-2-system-6-0-3-and-counting/">illuminati</a>' have been busy and there are some nice updates here: Fixes to filetypes of SCSI drivers and other system extensions after being discovered in System 6.0.3 that were causing problems. Also, there's no switch to text mode just before the Finder loads at bootup, which bugged me (and probably no one else on the face of the planet). I also quite like how double clicking on rSounds in the Finder will now play them without any additional system extensions, making the most of the Sound CDev with a simple update. I also like the additional system sounds coming from Mac OS 9 and It'll be interesting to play around with some of larger font sizes included. It feels slightly snappier - this may be down to the OMF record packing improvements...or not. I've quite often felt various versions of Mac OS X felt faster after point release updates, so it's possible it's just a placebo effect it has on me! All this and the bundling of John Brooks' fantastic updates for ProDOS 8 v2.4.1. For more details on this release, check out the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/system-6-0-x/">release notes included with the archive</a>&nbsp;or the original announcement on <a href="http://a2central.com/7396/the-source-is-strong-with-this-one-system-6-0-4/">a2central.com</a>. You can also download my preinstalled &nbsp;<img class="left" style="border: 0px initial initial;" title="null" src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/Uploads/_resampled/ResizedImage1515-icdisc.gif" alt="" hspace="null" vspace="null" width="15" height="15" align="null" />&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/System_6_0_4_and_Free_Games.zip">System 6.0.4 Hard Drive Image</a>, which not only includes the most recent system update, but every tool and font required by IIGS programs, as well as filling the remainder of the 32meg image with freeware and shareware games.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p class="image left" style="width: 640;"><img title="System 6.0.4" src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/Xmas2016-17/System-604Play-rSounds.gif" alt="System 6.0.4" width="640" height="400" /></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>It's certainly easier said than done, but I'm still hoping that future versions of System 6.0.x will fix everything that GUPP patches, that the Softdisk GS &lsquo;Disk Count' CDev fixes (incorrect number of 5.25" drives on the desktop), incorporate II Not Disturb for better time keeping performance, Sheppy's List Manager patch for problems with the List view in the Finder, the SANE fix patch, the Fix Disk Mount bug patch and the Fix ROM Blaster INIT patch. Whew. That should leave a cleaner, leaner System 6 without having all these patches installed taking up memory and disk space.</p> <p>Also of note, I've added SCSI drivers to get my preinstalled version of System 6.0.1 and System 6.0.4 at Eduardo&nbsp;Correa Lima's request. I believe Dagen Brock also made a similar request to get my images working with SCSI hard drives as soon as they've been copied to those drives. Also, Eduardo asked about any official Apple Diagnostics software for the IIGS out there - and we now have on archive thanks to myself and Antoine, multiple versions of the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/apple-iigs-diagnostics/#box_scans">Apple Services IIGS Diagnostics program</a>, which can run a full gamut of tests across different components -&nbsp;tests for ROM checks, System Speed / Interupts, MMU / IOU, RAM, Serial Port, Disk Port, Sound circuitry, Video Pattern, Keyboard and Mouse. All tests can be run or selection of tests set to run, the results of which can be logged back to disk.</p> <p>It's also that time of year where the previous years (2010 to 2016) aren't easily accessible thanks to poor design on my part. I will have to sort out something better, but for the meantime you can access all previous updates all the way back to 2010 here:</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2016">2016</a><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2015"></a></p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2015">2015</a></p> <p><a title="2014" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2014" target="_blank">2014</a></p> <p><a title="2013" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2013" target="_blank">2013</a></p> <p><a title="2012" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2012" target="_blank">2012</a></p> <p><a title="2011" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2011" target="_blank">2011</a></p> <p><a title="2010" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2010" target="_blank">2010</a></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> Fri, 27 Jan 2017 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/patented-post-christmas-gift-1-system-6-0/ Patented Post Christmas Gift 2 - SoundSmith v2.0b http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/patented-post-christmas-gift-2-soundsmith-v2-0b/ <p>SoundSmith v2.0b has been released! Thanks to <a href="http://www.brutaldeluxe.fr/products/apple2gs/soundsmith/">Antoine Vignau</a>, this has not only been restored (from Huibert Aalbers badly damaged hard drive), but also given new features to take advantage of brand new hardware - specifically, to provide sequencing across the new channels available (for surround sound) that the&nbsp;<a href="https://manilagear.com/product/4soniq-sound-card/">4soniq</a>&nbsp;card can provide.</p> <p>There's also preliminary (read, imperfect) support for loading wavebank files, i.e. the single document that includes all the instruments necessary for playback with the sequence. Instruments can be extracted this way, not to mention making edits to SoundSmith sequences that only have wavebank data available instead of individual instruments.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p class="image left" style="width: 640;"><img title="SoundSmith v2.0b mapping to surround sound" src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/Xmas2016-17/soundsmithv2b2.png" alt="SoundSmith v2.0b mapping to surround sound" width="640" height="400" /></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>The <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/soundsmith-v1-01/">SoundSmith archive</a>&nbsp;on WITA2GS? has been amended to include the new version 2.0b and the new Tool 219, along with all the existing versions, songs and instruments previously available. Or you can download the standalone release from <a href="http://www.brutaldeluxe.fr/products/apple2gs/soundsmith/">Brutal Deluxe's site</a>.</p> Sat, 28 Jan 2017 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/patented-post-christmas-gift-2-soundsmith-v2-0b/ Patented Post Christmas Gift 3 - ViaTerm II http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/patented-post-christmas-gift-3-viaterm-ii/ <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/viaterm-ii/">ViaTerm II</a>&nbsp;may well have been the first IIGS specific communications program developed and ironically, it's the last one to be archived (thanks to Andrew Roughan (disk imaging/packaging and manual scans and Antoine Vignau (crack).</p> <p>This rarity was only released in Australia to use with Telecom's (now&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telstra">Telstra</a>)&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Videotex#Australia">ViaTel</a>&nbsp;service. ViaTel was a&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Videotex">VideoTex</a>&nbsp;service, an early protocol for two way terminal based communication (Teletext was the variation built into the TVs that allowed only 1-way communication i.e. data sent to your TV along with broadcast channels you'd pick up via an aerial/antenna). The&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minitel">MiniTel</a>&nbsp;system deployed in France showed the greatest uptake of VideoTex, as terminals were provided to homes in France for use if those home no longer received the white pages directories, therefore saving printing and distribution costs for years to come.</p> <p>So in theory, perhaps,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/viaterm-ii/">ViaTerm II</a>&nbsp;could have been used as a MiniTel client (as an alternative to&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/shadowdial/">ShadowDial</a>). We're not likely to know anymore, as&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minitel">MiniTel</a>&nbsp;was retired in 2012. Is anyone running a VideoTex service via the internet? A quick Google search has revealed nothing for me.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p class="image left" style="width: 320;"><img title="ViaTel Terminal Emulation with ViaTerm II on the IIGS" src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/Xmas2016-17/ViaTerm0000.gif" alt="ViaTel Terminal Emulation with ViaTerm II on the IIGS" width="320" height="200" /></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>In any event,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/viaterm-ii/">ViaTerm II</a>&nbsp;was to access&nbsp;<a href="https://rossbennetts.com/2009/02/09/telecom-viatel/">ViaTel in Australia</a>&nbsp;and of course that service wound up by the '80s, but not after being renamed 'Discovery 40', based on the number of columns of text available.&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/viaterm-ii/">ViaTerm II</a>&nbsp;perfectly makes use of 320 mode super hi-res graphics mode of the IIGS to perfectly emulate VideoTex and its 40 columns of coloured text and blocks that could form low resolution graphics. 'Discovery 80', using 80 columns of text, must have been similar to ANSI terminal specs, for which the IIGS has to compromise by using the 640 super hi-res graphics mode, where the resolution can achieved but colours can only be dithered or potentially stick to 320 mode, but have text characters not as well defined with the lower resolution.</p> <p>Other interesting notes about&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/viaterm-ii/">ViaTerm II</a>&nbsp;is that it uses its own operating system, presumably to meet the rather conservative memory requirement of 256k, and leave as much memory as possible to run the program and allow for a reasonable amount of scroll back. If more memory is found, scrollback can be greatly enhanced - at 256k only 24 screens can be recalled, with 512k 168 screens be found and at 1.25meg, 672 screens can be called back. You could also save screens for later reference, which is great and really the only way we can see how the IIGS handled terminal emulation with the provided examples already saved on disk. Recalling saved screens can be done with open apple-L, which is how screen grabs were obtained. Thankfully, along with the disk image provided by Andrew Roughan and cracked by Antoine Vignau, Andrew's also been able to scan the short but concise manual, as well as the plastic case the software was packaged in and the disk label. It's all available from the program's&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/viaterm-ii/">archive</a>.</p> <p>From the beginning of the tail with telecommunications applications, to the end - I got in touch with <a href="https://twitter.com/ahorstmann">Andr&eacute; Horstmann</a>&nbsp;via Twitter, asking if he had any copies of his&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Videotex">VideoTex</a>&nbsp;terminal program, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/shadowdial/">ShadowDial</a>, and he's graciously sent a scan of the packaging. This means we now have scans for all IIGS specific <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/comms-applications/">communications</a>&nbsp;programs! Additionally for&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/shadowdial/">ShadowDial</a>, I've included some corrected information (I was getting confused between&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Videotex">VideoTex</a>&nbsp;and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teletext">TeleText</a>).</p> Sun, 29 Jan 2017 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/patented-post-christmas-gift-3-viaterm-ii/ Patented Post Christmas Gift 4 - New System Add-ons http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/patented-post-christmas-gift-4-new-system-add-ons/ <p>Thanks to Antoine for imaging a range of disks from the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.brutaldeluxe.fr/public/ssii/">Shareware Solutions II collection</a>, we've found some additional items to include amongst the INITS, CDAs, NDAs and CDevs of the&nbsp;<img class="left" style="border: 0px initial initial;" title="null" src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/Uploads/_resampled/ResizedImage1515-icdisc.gif" alt="" hspace="null" vspace="null" width="15" height="15" align="null" />&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/System_Addons.zip">System Add-ons</a>&nbsp;volume.</p> <p>Fielder INIT - allows you to move up and down using the arrow keys between fields (although I always thought you should be able to use tab to move between fields? I do vaguely remember some older IIGS software not accepting tabs to move between fields, perhaps List Plus or Softwood GSFile).</p> <p>KeycapsGS NDA - a beta version of the best looking keycaps NDA I've seen for the IIGS. If this reached version 1.0 from this v0.95, I'd love to know about it.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p class="image left" style="width: 607;"><img title="Keycaps 0.95 by Greg Betzel" src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/Xmas2016-17/Keycaps-by-Greg-Betzel-Snakebyte.png" alt="Keycaps 0.95 by Greg Betzel" width="607" height="352" /></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>SHR ScreenSaver CDA - this one allows you to set a time interval from setting the screen grab off.</p> <p>Magic Cursor INIT + App combo - I had v2.0.1 on archive, however it looks like some files were missing - an icon file containing sample cursors and the application to edit them together. Looks like you can set some cool system wide colour mouse pointers.</p> <p>Updated Key Notifier CDev by Eric Shepherd to v1.3 from v1.2.</p> <p>Even MORE Zip disk and drive icons!?!</p> <p>There could be some other additions from these Shareware Solutions II disks - it might be worth re-downloading the&nbsp;<img class="left" style="border: 0px initial initial;" title="null" src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/Uploads/_resampled/ResizedImage1515-icdisc.gif" alt="" hspace="null" vspace="null" width="15" height="15" align="null" />&nbsp;<a title="Audio and Utilities" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/Audio_and_Utilities.zip">Utilities &amp; Aural Creative</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<img class="left" style="border: 0px initial initial;" title="null" src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/Uploads/_resampled/ResizedImage1515-icdisc.gif" alt="" hspace="null" vspace="null" width="15" height="15" align="null" />&nbsp;<a title="Productivity and Graphics" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/Productivity_and_Graphics.zip">Productivity &amp; Visual Creative</a>&nbsp;32meg volumes to make sure you're up to date.</p> <p>I've also discovered two terrific shareware programs written by French author M Tornereau - RapidoGraf (an excellent graphing program that does it's job so much better than the commercial <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/visualizer/">Visualizer</a>&nbsp;application) and Catmania (a cataloging program that will record full path directories of any ProDOS formatted volume. Non-mounted archives can be referred to from Catmania's database, so you can know where all of your files are without having those storage mediums online). However, we only have the trial v0.9 versions in English, and the full v1.0 of Catmania in French only). These rare, well written apps are System 6 savvy and follow Apple human interface guidelines well. If anyone has the registered v1.0 variations of these programs in English (and in French for RapidoGraf), please submit them and I'll create full archives for these two releases.</p> <div><br /></div> Mon, 30 Jan 2017 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/patented-post-christmas-gift-4-new-system-add-ons/ Patented Post Christmas Gift 5 - 8-bit on 3.5” Disk Updates http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/patented-post-christmas-gift-5-8-bit-on-3-5-disk-updates/ <p>8-bit on 3.5" Disk Updates - I've scanned the manuals for the classic Broderbund games <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/airheart-best-of-apple-ii-volume/">Airheart</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/wings-of-fury/">Wings of Fury</a>&nbsp;from my own collection.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p class="image left" style="width: 600;"><img title="Airheart and Wings of Fury Manuals" src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/Xmas2016-17/Airheart-Wings-o-Fury-Manuals.png" alt="Airheart and Wings of Fury Manuals" width="600" height="399" /></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>We also have 3 more ProDOS compatible versions of classic 8-bit games thanks to qkumba (Lost Tomb, Mr Cool and Orileys Mine). There's also the Star Trek First Contact 3.5" and hard drive installable hack by Marco Verpelli. These two are available on the 32meg&nbsp;<img class="left" style="border: 0px initial initial;" title="null" src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/Uploads/_resampled/ResizedImage1515-icdisc.gif" alt="" hspace="null" vspace="null" width="15" height="15" align="null" />&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/8-bit_Games.zip">8-bit Games</a>&nbsp;archive. Last but not least to 8-bit gaming on 3.5" disk, a box scan for the 8-bit re-release of <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/ultima-i-8-bit-re-release/">Ultima I</a>&nbsp;by Eduardo Correa Lima.</p> <p>In the applications arena, a <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/discover-cad-ii/">Discover CAD</a>&nbsp;disk image and manual scan has been submitted by Karl Horster. Peter Puskarich had previously provided a different disk image archive, so we now have two different versions of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/discover-cad-ii/">Discover CAD</a>. Thanks Karl and Peter!</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> Tue, 31 Jan 2017 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/patented-post-christmas-gift-5-8-bit-on-3-5-disk-updates/ Patented Post Christmas Gift 6 - Fresh Cracks from Logo & TRex + New Uncracked Disk Images http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/patented-post-christmas-gift-6-fresh-cracks-from-logo-trex-new-uncracked-disk-images/ <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>This has been a long time coming and I apologise to Antoine for the delay in sharing them with everyone. Basically, Antoine has created fresh cracks for many IIGS games over the last year or so and I've now finally updated each title's archives to include them:</p> <p><a title="Arkanoid" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/arkanoid/" target="_blank">Arkanoid</a><br /><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/arkanoid-ii/">Arkanoid II</a>&nbsp;(Now also includes the classic FUCK crack)<br /><a title="Bubble Ghost" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/bubble-ghost/" target="_blank">Bubble Ghost</a><br /><a title="Cavern Cobra" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/cavern-cobra/" target="_blank">Cavern Cobra</a><br /><a title="Gauntlet" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/gauntlet/" target="_blank">Gauntlet</a><br /><a title="Great Western Shootout" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/great-western-shootout/" target="_blank">Great Western Shootout</a><br /><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/laser-force/">Laser Force</a>&nbsp;(as well as development version &lsquo;Laser Man')<br /><a title="Paperboy" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/paperboy/" target="_blank">Paperboy</a><br /><a title="Rastan" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/rastan/" target="_blank">Rastan</a><br /><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/sea-strike/">Sea Strike</a>&nbsp;(modified version runs from System 6 (but only from floppy, currently)<br /><a title="Silpheed" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/silpheed/" target="_blank">Silpheed</a><br /><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/task-force/">Task Force</a>&nbsp;(which now also includes an unlimited health option thanks to Mitch Spector)<br /><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/thexder/">Thexder</a>&nbsp;(version 1.0 non joystick version available) (Modified version uses shadow memory, but introduces bugs?)<br /><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/tunnels-of-armageddon/">Tunnels of Armageddon</a>&nbsp;(Also includes the FUCK crack, with many differences)</p> <p><a title="Deja Vu" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/deja-vu/" target="_blank">Deja Vu</a><br /><a title="Deja Vu II" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/deja-vu-2/" target="_blank">Deja Vu II</a><br /><a title="Leisure Suit Larry" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/leisure-suit-larry-in-the-land-of-the-lounge-lizards/" target="_blank">Leisure Suit Larry</a><br /><a title="Shadowgate" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/shadowgate/" target="_blank">Shadowgate</a><br /><a title="The Third Courier" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/third-courier-the/" target="_blank">The Third Courier</a><br /><a title="Uninvited" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/uninvited/" target="_blank">Uninvited</a></p> <p><a title="Destroyer" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/destroyer/" target="_blank">Destroyer</a><br /><a title="Grand Prix Circuit" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/grand-prix-circuit/" target="_blank">Grand Prix Circuit</a><br /><a title="Hostage" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/hostage/" target="_blank">Hostage</a><br /><a title="Life and Death" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/life-and-death/" target="_blank">Life and Death</a><br /><a title="Test Drive II" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/test-drive-ii/" target="_blank">Test Drive II</a></p> <p><a title="Block Out" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/block-out/" target="_blank">Block Out</a><br /><a title="Cribbage &amp; Gin King" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/gin-king-cribbage-king/" target="_blank">Cribbage &amp; Gin King</a><br /><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/mancala/">Mancala</a>&nbsp;(great reason to get new cracks - original cracks had copyright message crossed through on title screen)<br /><a title="Revolution 76" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/revolution-76/" target="_blank">Revolution 76</a></p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/pipe-dream/">Pipe Dream</a>&nbsp;(Including new T Rex crack as well)<br /><a title="Shanghai" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/shanghai/" target="_blank">Shanghai</a><br /><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/triango/">Triango</a>&nbsp;(is a better crack as the dialogue asking for manual look-up has been completely removed)</p> <p><a title="Ancient Land of Ys" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/ancient-land-of-ys/" target="_blank">Ancient Land of Ys</a><br /><a title="The Bard's Tale" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/bard-s-tale-i-tales-of-the-unknown-the/" target="_blank">The Bard's Tale</a><br /><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/keef-the-thief/">Keef the Thief</a>&nbsp;(this version only requires that you need to enter only ONE card selection to enter the game. The last cracked version made you select three.)<br /><a title="The Immortal" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/immortal-the/" target="_blank">The Immortal</a><br /><a title="Tower of Myraglen" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/tower-of-myraglen/" target="_blank">Tower of Myraglen</a><br /><a title="War in Middle Earth" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/war-in-middle-earth/" target="_blank">War in Middle Earth</a></p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/4th-and-inches/">4th &amp; Inches and Team Construction Kit</a>&nbsp;(as well as development version)<br /><a title="California Games" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/california-games/" target="_blank">California Games</a><br /><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/hardball-/">Hardball!</a>&nbsp;(Modified versions doesn't work properly, unfortunately, but tried to work from System 6)<br /><a title="Mini Putt" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/mini-putt/" target="_blank">Mini Putt</a><br /><a title="Serve and Volley" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/serve-and-volley/" target="_blank">Serve and Volley</a><br /><a title="Street Sports Soccer" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/street-sports-soccer/" target="_blank">Street Sports Soccer</a><br /><a title="Superstar Ice Hockey" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/superstar-ice-hockey/" target="_blank">Superstar Ice Hockey</a><br /><a title="Winter Games" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/winter-games/" target="_blank">Winter Games</a><br /><a title="World Tour Golf" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/world-tour-golf/" target="_blank">World Tour Golf</a><br /><a title="Zany Golf" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/zany-golf/" target="_blank">Zany Golf</a></p> <p>In addition to Antoine's new cracks, I've also included fresh / UNCRACKED disk images from my collection of original disks for the following titles:</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/warlock/">Warlock</a>&nbsp;- Error reading Block 7: I/O Error</p> <p><a title="Great Western Shootout" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/great-western-shootout/" target="_blank">Great Western Shootout</a>&nbsp;- Error reading Block 1,599: I/O Error</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/laser-force/">Laser Force</a>&nbsp;- Error reading Block 1,599: I/O Error</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/thexder/">Thexder</a>&nbsp;- Error reading Block 1,588: I/O Error</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/three-stooges-the/">The Three Stooges</a>&nbsp;- Error reading Block 269: I/O Error Dk1, Error reading Block 857: Error $67 (second pass, no errors) Dk2</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/dungeon-master/">Dungeon Master</a>&nbsp;- Missed the error message!</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/task-force/">Task Force</a>&nbsp;- Error reading Block 1,597, 1598, 1599, Number of failed blocks = 10 : I/O Error (same result after two passes) Dk1, No Read Errors Dk 2</p> <p><a title="Rastan" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/rastan/" target="_blank">Rastan</a>&nbsp;- No Read Errors Dk 1, Error reading Block 77: Error $67</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/xenocide/">Xenocide</a>&nbsp;- No Read Errors</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/zany-golf/">Zany Golf</a>&nbsp;- Error reading Block 77: Error $67</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/dream-zone/">Dream Zone</a>&nbsp;- No Read Errors Dk 1, Error reading Block 32, 33, 34, 35 Number of failed blocks = 12 : I/O Error (same result after two passes) Dk 2</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/skate-or-die/">Skate or Die</a>&nbsp;- No Read Errors</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/destroyer/">Destroyer</a>&nbsp;- Error reading Block 1317, 1336, 1357 Number of failed blocks = 4 : I/O Error (same result after two passes)</p> <p><a title="The Bard's Tale" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/bard-s-tale-i-tales-of-the-unknown-the/" target="_blank">The Bard's Tale</a>&nbsp;- No Read Errors</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/bard-s-tale-ii-the-destiny-knight-the/">Bard's Tale 2</a>: Destiny Knight - Error reading Block 1599: I/O Error</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/fast-break/">Fast Break</a>&nbsp;- No Read Errors</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/mean-18/">Mean 18</a>&nbsp;- No Read Errors</p> <p><a title="Test Drive II" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/test-drive-ii/" target="_blank">Test Drive II</a>&nbsp;- No Read Errors</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/rocket-ranger/">Rocket Ranger</a>&nbsp;- No Read Errors for Dk 1 or Dk 2</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/winter-games/">Winter Games</a>&nbsp;- No Read Errors</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/world-games/">World Games</a>&nbsp;- No Read Errors</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/last-ninja-the/">The Last Ninja</a>&nbsp;- Error reading Block 1599: I/O Error</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/vegas-gambler/">Vegas Gambler</a>&nbsp;- No Read Errors</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/silent-service/">Silent Service</a>&nbsp;- Error reading Block 7: I/O Error</p> <p><a title="Shadowgate" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/shadowgate/" target="_blank">Shadowgate</a>&nbsp;- No Read Errors Dk 1, Error reading Block 7: I/O Error Dk 2</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/downhill-challenge/">Downhill Challenge</a>&nbsp;- No Read Errors for Dk 1 and Dk 2</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/keef-the-thief/">Keef the Thief</a>&nbsp;- No Read Errors Dk 1, Error reading Block 3: Error $67 Dk 2</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/space-quest-ii/">Space Quest II</a>&nbsp;- Error reading Block 1588: I/O Error Dk 1, No Read Errors Dk 2</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/police-quest/">Police Quest</a>&nbsp;- Error reading Block 1266: I/O Error (2nd pass, 2 weeks later, no errors) Dk1, Error reading Block 1266: I/O Error (2nd pass, no errors) Dk 2</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/king-s-quest/">King's Quest I</a>&nbsp;- Error reading Block 1588: I/O Error Dk 1 and Dk 2</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/king-s-quest-ii/">King's Quest III</a>&nbsp;- Error reading Block 1588: I/O Error Dk 1, No Errors Dk 2</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/king-s-quest-iv/">King's Quest IV</a>&nbsp;- Error reading Block 1588: I/O Error Dk 1 and Dk 2, No Read Errors Dk 3</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/leisure-suit-larry-in-the-land-of-the-lounge-lizards/">Leisure Suit Larry</a>&nbsp;- No Read Errors (this came in an original box, but disk 1 looks like a copy, that would have had its protection removed) Dk 1, Error reading Block 1588: I/O Error Dk 2</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/hover-blade/">Hover Blade</a>&nbsp;- No Read Errors Dk 1 and Dk 2</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/serve-and-volley/">Serve &amp; Volley</a>&nbsp;- No Read Errors</p> <p><a title="Silpheed" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/silpheed/" target="_blank">Silpheed</a>&nbsp;- No Read Errors Dk 1 and Dk 2</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/pipe-dream/">Pipe Dream</a>&nbsp;- No Read Errors</p> <p><a title="Arkanoid" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/arkanoid/" target="_blank">Arkanoid</a>&nbsp;- No Read Errors (1st pass had LOTS of read errors though)</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/tass-times-in-tonetown/">Tass Times in Tonetown</a>&nbsp;- No Read Errors</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/ancient-land-of-ys/">Ancient Land of Ys</a>&nbsp;- Forgot to Record any read errors!</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/captain-blood/">Captain Blood</a>&nbsp;- Forgot to Record any read errors!</p> <p>Ideally, disk image archives should include untouched versions so if cracks that compromise the original program are found, we could work upon a new crack that hopefully doesn't affect anything from the original design of the application, and then archive that. A good example would be with Triango - Antoine's recent crack was an improvement on the older crack, as the older effort still presented a dialogue to ask for a word look-up in the manual. You could enter ANYTHING and it would then allow you to play the game, but Antoine's crack bypasses the dialogue altogether - why need to display it when whatever you type is going to get beyond it anyway? The crack makes it redundant. But the original, untouched disk image will still have the dialogue AND the working word look-up protection, for anyone that wants to see how this specific form of copy protection works.</p> <p>UPDATE 1: Antoine's write-ups for cracks (and others) are all on <a href="http://www.hackzapple.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=13">Hackzapple</a>&nbsp;if you'd like a go at learning how to make your own cracks to 8-bit and IIGS specific software.</p> <p>UPDATE 2: Brian Troha (T-rex) has collated a <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/Apple_IIgs_Cracking.txt">full written list of his cracks</a>. They're also available in the Game.Utils folder on the&nbsp;<img class="left" style="border: 0px initial initial;" title="null" src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/Uploads/_resampled/ResizedImage1515-icdisc.gif" alt="" hspace="null" vspace="null" width="15" height="15" align="null" />&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/Games_with_Path_Mods.zip">Games with Path Modifications</a>&nbsp;volume.</p> Wed, 01 Feb 2017 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/patented-post-christmas-gift-6-fresh-cracks-from-logo-trex-new-uncracked-disk-images/ Futureshock 3D Now Playable with a Joystick! http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/futureshock-3d-now-playable-with-a-joystick/ <p>Dagen Brock and Antoine Vignau have patched the game <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/futureshock-3d/">Futureshock 3D</a>&nbsp;so it can be played with a joystick. Why is this particularly news worthy?&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/futureshock-3d/">Futureshock 3D</a>&nbsp;is only fully playable with the accompanying <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/futurepad/">FuturePad</a>, a peripheral for uniquely taking control during gameplay. However, very limited quantities of the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/futureshock-3d/">Futureshock 3D</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/futurepad/">FuturePad</a>&nbsp;combination were sold, but of course everyone has access to a mouse on a IIGS (don't you?) and also likely to have a joystick. And now you can use the mouse and joystick to fully play&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/futureshock-3d/">Futureshock 3D</a>.</p> <p>Go to the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/futureshock-3d/">archive page</a>&nbsp;and download the zipped 2image and play&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/futureshock-3d/">Futureshock 3D</a>&nbsp;without a Futurepad! Includes source code as well!</p> Mon, 06 Feb 2017 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/futureshock-3d-now-playable-with-a-joystick/ Captain Blood Now Playable on ROM03 models! http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/captain-blood-now-playable-on-rom03-models/ <p>On the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/AppleIIGSEnthusiasts">Apple IIGS Enthusiasts Group on Facebook</a>, Matt Reichart asked if <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/captain-blood/">Captain Blood</a>&nbsp;was still incompatible with IIGS ROM03 models and Antoine checked...it is. Or was. Antoine's now patched&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/captain-blood/">Captain Blood</a>&nbsp;to work properly with ROM03 machines and included the full source code as well! Just download the .zip archive to play the patched version.</p> <p>I still recommend playing this from a 3.5" floppy drive (or 3.5" disk image) (as playing from a hard drive or large ProDOS volume is fine, but saving and restoring games doesn't seem to work from those storage mediums.</p> Tue, 07 Feb 2017 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/captain-blood-now-playable-on-rom03-models/ Expanding Your IIGS Game Cracking Playset - More Uncracked Images http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/expanding-your-iigs-game-cracking-playset-more-uncracked-images/ <p>After imaging all my original IIGS games from the one box I'd kept them...I realised my more recent acquisitions (stuff I've bought off eBay for the past 15 years) the disks were still sitting in their boxes. So here's a few more uncracked games you can sharpen your cracking skills with, and by having more diverse disk images, things might turn up (newer versions perhaps) that can bring something unexpected to the archive.</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/beyond-zork/">Beyond Zork</a>&nbsp;- No Read Errors</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/block-out/">Blockout</a>&nbsp;- No Read Errors</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/tunnels-of-armageddon/">Tunnels of Armageddon</a>&nbsp;- No Read Errors</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/sea-strike/">Sea Strike</a>&nbsp;- No Read Errors</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/firepower/">Firepower</a>&nbsp;- No Read Errors</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/club-backgammon/">Club Backgammon</a>&nbsp;- Errors at block 1284, 1317, 1400, 1420 Error $67</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/blackjack-academy/">Blackjack Academy</a>&nbsp;(Second Pass) - Error at block 1505 Error $67</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/battle-chess/">Battle Chess</a>&nbsp;- No Read Errors</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/mancala/">Mancala</a>&nbsp;- No Read Errors</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/panzer-battles/">Panzer Battles</a>&nbsp;Dk1 - No Read Errors Dk2 - Errors at block 1595, 1597, 1598, 1599 Error $67<br /> Dk2 (2nd pass) Same errors - 13 blocks total</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/strip-poker-ii/">Strip Poker II</a>&nbsp;- No Read Errors<br /><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/strip-poker-ii/">Strip Poker II</a>&nbsp;Data Disk 4 - No Read Errors<br /><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/strip-poker-ii/">Strip Poker II</a>&nbsp;Data Disk 5 - Errors reading block 7, 1377, 1378 I/O Errors</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/triango/">Triango</a>&nbsp;- No Read Errors</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/lost-tribe-the/">The Lost Tribe</a>&nbsp;Dk 1 - No Read Errors Dk 2 - No Read Errors Dk 3 - No Read Errors</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/cryllan-mission-2088/">The Cryllan Mission 2088</a>&nbsp;Dk 1 - No Read Errors Dk 2 - No Read Errors Dk 3 - No Read Errors</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/star-saga-one/">Star Saga One Dk 1</a>&nbsp;- (2nd pass) - No Read Errors</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/windwalker/">Windwalker</a>&nbsp;Dk 1- (2nd pass) No Read Errors Dk 2 (2nd pass) - No Read Errors</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/vegas-craps/">Vegas Craps</a>&nbsp;- No Read Errors</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/vegas-gambler/">Vegas Gambler</a>&nbsp;- (4th pass!) No Read Errors</p> Wed, 08 Feb 2017 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/expanding-your-iigs-game-cracking-playset-more-uncracked-images/ Terrapin Logo Plus Added http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/terrapin-logo-plus-added/ <p>Thanks to 4am (who's keeping an eye out for 8-bit releases on 3.5" disk) we now have <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/terrapin-logo-plus/">Terrapin Logo Plus</a>&nbsp;on archive, including the disk image and manual. Revisit your Logo coding skills with this revamped version for 128k Apple II models.</p> Tue, 07 Mar 2017 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/terrapin-logo-plus-added/ Fresh(er) Cracks of Educational Software http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/fresh-er-cracks-of-educational-software/ <p>As part of some fresh cracks Antoine, or as his cracking alter ego is known 'LoGo', did back in 2016, there were quite a few Educational titles. Some revealed some newer versions, but otherwise, we now have different clean cracks, skillfully handled by Antoine to best ensure each program still behaves as originally intended by the authors:</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/reader-rabbit/">Reader Rabbit</a>&nbsp;(now including a fresh LoGo crack of v2.2)<br /><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/sky-travel-2/">SkyTravel</a>&nbsp;(fresh Logo crack)<br /><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/read-and-rhyme/">Read &amp; Rhyme</a>&nbsp;(fresh Logo crack with HD install - with more time, the HD patch could potentially work on all other Unicorn titles, none of which, in their original state, are hard drive installable)<br /><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/national-geographic-kidsnetwork/">National Geographic Kids Network</a>&nbsp;(fresh logo crack of a newer version - v1.4)<br /><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/playroom-the/">The Playroom</a>&nbsp;(fresh logo crack)<br /><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/storybook-weaver-world-of-make-believe/">Storybook Weaver World of Make Believe</a>&nbsp;(fresh crack plus inclusion of new 'Network' version of the program - allowing to be Netbooted?)<br /><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/storybook-weaver/">Storybook Weaver</a>&nbsp;(Fresh crack by LoGo)<br /><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/storybook-weaver-world-of-adventure/">Storybook Weaver World of Adventure</a>&nbsp;(fresh crack, 'Network' version and original System Disk included)<br /><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/mavis-beacon-teaches-typing/">Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing</a>&nbsp;(fresh LoGo crack)<br /><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/where-in-the-usa-is-carmen-sandiego-/">Where in the USA is Carmen Sandiego?</a>&nbsp;(2x fresh LoGo cracks)<br /><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/where-in-the-world-is-carmen-sandiego-/">Where in the World is Carmen&nbsp;Sandiego?</a>&nbsp;(fresh LoGo crack)<br /><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/world-geograph/">World Geograph</a>&nbsp;(fresh LoGo crack of newer v1.2)</p> <p>I've also updated the two 32meg volumes dedicated to educational software with these new additions:</p> <p><img class="left" style="border: 0px initial initial;" title="null" src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/Uploads/_resampled/ResizedImage1515-icdisc.gif" alt="" hspace="null" vspace="null" width="15" height="15" align="null" />&nbsp;<a title="Reading, Writing and Mathematics" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/Reading_Writing_and_Maths.zip">Reading, Writing and Mathematics</a>&nbsp;(Educational software ~15.1meg)</p> <p><img class="left" style="border: 0px initial initial;" title="null" src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/Uploads/_resampled/ResizedImage1515-icdisc.gif" alt="" hspace="null" vspace="null" width="15" height="15" align="null" />&nbsp;<a title="Science, Social Studies, Kids Creative, Computer Skills" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/Social_History_and_Computers.zip" target="_blank">Science, Social Studies, Kids Creative, Computer Skills</a>&nbsp;(Educational software ~14.4meg)</p> Tue, 28 Mar 2017 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/fresh-er-cracks-of-educational-software/ Hardware Updates http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/hardware-updates/ <p><a href="https://manilagear.com">Manila Gear</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://store.reactivemicro.com/product-category/49/apple2/iigs/">Reactive Micro</a>&nbsp;team up! <a href="https://manilagear.com/manila-gear-introduces-the-2soniq-and-announces-new-partnership-with-reactivemicro/">As part of their new partnership Reactive Micro</a>&nbsp;will handle distribution as Manila Gear releases their new 2soniq card, their scaled down sound expansion that provides stereo output like other <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/soundcards/">3rd party stereo cards</a>. Additionally, Manila Gear has a refreshed 4soniq card (the first card to support surround sound on the IIGS) based on feedback of the first batch of sales. On top of that, Manila Gear also produces the Apple IIGS VGA Adapter, which enables you to connect to a VGA monitor that supports 15Khz video input (so be sure your monitor supports this before buying the adapter, because most modern monitors will NOT support 15Mhz video signals).</p> <p>Thanks to 4am (quite some time ago, and no-thanks to me for sorting a backlog of disk images in an untimely manner) we now have some new software...for hardware. Multi Drive Pro for the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/multiram-gs/">Checkmate MultiRAM</a>&nbsp;card (for which we still need a scan!) and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/memory-saver/">Checkmate Memory Saver</a>&nbsp;for the Memory Saver card (a ROM backup device). Download these separately from the disk image links from each archive.</p> <p>Last but not least, the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/audio-animator/">Audio Animator</a>&nbsp;manual has been scanned by Karl Horster.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> Sun, 09 Apr 2017 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/hardware-updates/ Application Fresh Cracks http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/application-fresh-cracks/ <p>Last but certainly not least in this series of fresh cracks from <a href="http://www.brutaldeluxe.fr">Antoine Vignau</a>, we cover applications. Not only do we have different, more unique cracks, we've also found some newer versions:</p> <p><a title="Mercury" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/mercury/" target="_blank">Mercury</a><br /><a title="Designer Puzzles" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/designer-puzzles/" target="_blank">Designer Puzzles</a><br /><a title="Designer Prints" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/designer-prints/" target="_blank">Designer Prints</a><br /><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/softwood-gsfile/">Softwood GS File</a>&nbsp;(new version 2.0 included! Patched to work from System 6!)<br /><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/beagle-draw-was-topdraw-/">TopDraw v1.00A</a>&nbsp;(as part of the BeagleDraw archive)<br /><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/dyoh-architecture/">Design Your Own Home Architecture</a>&nbsp;(newer v2.8)<br /><a title="Notes n Files" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/notes-n-files/" target="_blank">Notes n Files</a><br /><a title="Graphics Studio" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/graphics-studio/" target="_blank">Graphics Studio</a></p> <p>UPDATE: I've also included the newer versions of these apps where ever possible on the relevant 32meg hard drive images:</p> <p><img class="left" style="border: 0px initial initial;" title="null" src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/Uploads/_resampled/ResizedImage1515-icdisc.gif" alt="" hspace="null" vspace="null" width="15" height="15" align="null" />&nbsp;<a title="Productivity and Graphics" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/Productivity_and_Graphics.zip">Productivity &amp; Visual Creative</a>,&nbsp;</p> <p><img class="left" style="border: 0px initial initial;" title="null" src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/Uploads/_resampled/ResizedImage1515-icdisc.gif" alt="" hspace="null" vspace="null" width="15" height="15" align="null" />&nbsp;<a title="Audio and Utilities" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/Audio_and_Utilities.zip">Utilities &amp; Aural Creative</a></p> Mon, 10 Apr 2017 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/application-fresh-cracks/ Xenocide Archive Updated with Infinite Lives Patch and a Word on Cheats http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/xenocide-archive-updated-with-infinite-lives-patch-and-a-word-on-cheats/ <p>Thanks to Pen Helm, we have a new patched version of <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/xenocide/">Xenocide</a>&nbsp;that gives you infinite lives &ndash; no excuses not to see the entire game now. Just download the .zip archive for the new disk image.</p> <p>Dear readers, did you also know that If you boot up with the GameHacker classic desk accessory (CDA) installed, which my 32meg image of a preinstalled&nbsp;<a title="System 6.0.1 Hard Drive Image" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/harddrive_image.zip">System 6.0.1 Hard Drive Image</a>, you can run Xenocide and then access the classic control panel with apple, command and escape, select the GameHacker CDA and it will ask if you want to patch the current game in two ways: 1) Infinite Lives and 2) Infinite ammunition.</p> <p>There's a tonne of other games supported by GameHacker, so be sure to use the same trick on any game that allows you to access the classic control panel. However, some games don't allow access to the text based control panel, like Great Western Shootout, Gauntlet and Paperboy. Zany Golf is also one of those titles, but a <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/fun-for-the-whole-family-zany-golf-now-available-with-unlimited-strokes/">patched version</a>&nbsp;was included in the archive a couple of years ago. If anyone's interested in writing infinite lives (and ammunition, where applicable) patches to IIGS games, maybe focus on those listed games as GameHacker can take care of the rest.</p> <p>But I strongly recommend playing games without cheats - the reward is more satisfying.</p> <p>But here are all the games GameHacker supports (from its included documentation):</p> <p>Antetris<br />Almost infinite (65516) number of blocks that can hit you<br /> <br />Arkanoid 1 &amp; 2 (3 variants of Ark II)<br />Infinite lives</p> <p>Bounce-It!<br />Infinite lives</p> <p>Calibus:<br />Infinite Lives, Infinite Ammo, All weapon types have super-powerful ammo. (Kill with 1 shot!)<br /> <br />Columns GS<br />No trouble pieces, and the screen stays on when you press escape.</p> <p>Copy Killers:<br />Infinite Money, Virus Protection.</p> <p>Crystal Quest<br />Infinite lives</p> <p>Defender of the Crown<br />Always win jousts and castle raids; buying army, knights, and catapults make your treasury to 25; this<br />discourages others from stealing your gold and using it against you.</p> <p>Elevators<br />Invincible men that can walk through elavators.</p> <p>Hoverblade<br />Infinite shields, fuel. Thanks to 'RKE' (Richard K Eddington) for finding the fuel and all.</p> <p>The Last Ninja</p> <p>Infinite lives, bombs, stars, and hit points.</p> <p>Mine Hunt (NDA version only)<br />Lets you tread on the mines without dying.</p> <p>Naxos<br />Infinite Ammo, Shield Maxxed out after each level.</p> <p>Orbizone:<br />Infinite Lives.</p> <p>Pick'n Pile<br />Infinite time</p> <p>Plotting<br />Infinite lives. Some people have had problems getting to the CDA menu from with plotting; the best time to<br />try is when the startup screen is visible.</p> <p>QBurt GS<br />Not technically patched from within this game, but if you press the "=" key on the numeric keypad, your lives will increase.</p> <p>Qix<br />Infinite lives, but you still have to maneuver.</p> <p>Quadomino<br />This patch allows you to hold down keys when moving pieces for greater speed. (The first constructive patch!)</p> <p>Rogue<br />Infinite Strength and Hit Points. Infinite items, but you can drop them.</p> <p>Senseless Violence I:<br />Infinite babies.<br /> <br />ShufflePuck GS:<br />Your opponent's score will never go above 1. Note: apparently this game was never released, and is only available from your local pirate. I was lent this game to add support for it from an anonymous contact, and have since deleted it. This patch is included for completion only.<br /> <br />Silpheed<br />Infinite Shield. (Screen will show almost full shield points, but the shield is full in memory)</p> <p>Space Ace<br />Infinite lives. Patch provided by Jesse Blue. Thanks! (Untested; I don't have that game.)</p> <p>SpaceFox GS (2 variants supported)<br />Infinite lives, shot speed &amp; # of shots are set to 9.<br />Note: it's best to select GameHacker _before_ the game starts; that way most of these changes will happen at the start, not after you die once. Infinite fuel, and shields are infinite, just turn them on once per level. Still no weapon select, but with these mega-shields, you won't be dying very quickly.</p> <p>Spy Hunter GS v1 &amp; 2<br />Infinite lives, ammo, oil, and more.</p> <p>Star Trek Classic IIGS<br />Infinite Energy, weapons, time, and all the like.</p> <p>Tetris<br />Disables password; type anything for the password.</p> <p>The Tinies GS<br />Infinite time during levels, infinite lives, and restarts. Note: If you have GSBug installed, Tinies 1.0 can't get to the control panel; it will crash! Bug the authors to release 1.1!</p> <p>Thexder (2 versions)<br />Infinite Shield points in version 2.7 (supports joystick), never die (shield indicator will be mucked, though) on an older version. Thanks for Peter Mularski for the Thexder patch.</p> <p>Tunnels of Armageddon<br />Clock disabled, so you don't have to worry.<br />Also, your ship is invulnerable to damage, and once you get items, they never disappear.</p> <p>Xenocide: (2 variants supported)<br />Infinite ammo, lives, energy/oxygen, and shields. Autoblaster is always on as well.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> Wed, 19 Apr 2017 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/xenocide-archive-updated-with-infinite-lives-patch-and-a-word-on-cheats/ Ninja Force Releases First New Demo for 20 Years – Kern Kompetenz http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/ninja-force-releases-first-new-demo-for-20-years-kern-kompetenz/ <p><a href="http://www.ninjaforce.com/html/news.html">Ninja Force</a>&nbsp;recently attended and competed in the <a href="https://2017.revision-party.net">Revision 2017 Demo Scene Party</a>&nbsp;in Germany in the <a href="https://2017.revision-party.net/compos/oldskool">Oldskool</a>&nbsp;category with their brand new 'Kern Kompetenz' demo. Representing our&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/the-apple-iigs-or-it-s-the-cute-little-flaws-that-keep-a-guy-interested/">favourite cute but flawed machine</a>&nbsp;against other computer platforms of the '80s and '90s,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ninjaforce.com/html/news.html">Ninja Force</a>&nbsp;did us proud, <span style="text-decoration: line-through;">but at the time of writing (at least that I could see), the results as to the best entry of the competition have yet to appear</span>&nbsp;coming fourth place. You can <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngOOGV49pO0">watch each demo played at the party</a>&nbsp;on YouTube (with Kern Kompetenz at around the 33 minute mark).</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p class="image left" style="width: 320;"><img title="KernKompetenz" src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/News_Images/Kern-Kompetenz.gif" alt="KernKompetenz" width="320" height="200" /></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Now that all entries have been shown, Revision 2017 has now allowed distribution through <a href="http://www.pouet.net/">Pouet</a>, the demo scene archive for ALL platforms. Find the download link on the <a href="http://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=69665">entry for it here</a>. It's now also available from the official&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ninjaforce.com/html/news.html">Ninja Force</a>&nbsp;site now.</p> <p>The demo's amazing - everything's bigger, faster and smoother than any IIGS demo before it. It's pretty awesome to see things you've never seen the IIGS do, or thought could ever be done. Dreamer's tune is excellent and you'll remember it's melody days afterwards. It also has a different sound compared to his earlier work &ndash; a much more contemporary track than anything else on the IIGS.</p> <p>It took a bit of wrangling to get the demo working on my ROM01 (4.25meg RAM, ZipGS 8/64k, CFFA3000), but I possibly made it harder on myself by not copying it to a real 3.5" disk to run from that. Mounting the 800k disk image&nbsp;with the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/cffa300/">CFFA3000</a>, it wouldn't boot - it's not Smartport compatible. Trying to load from the System 6 Finder resulted in a helpful error message: 'Unable to load from GS/OS' - so I knew there was no way of getting it to work that way.</p> <p>But then I remembered how to get the Ninja Force Mega Demo running from a 'hard drive' (in this case, a 32meg ProDOS image mounted on the Smartport) - hold down the '8' key just before GS/OS starts booting. It will abort loading GS/OS and take you straight to the BASIC prompt. Type 'bye' to take you to the ProDOS Loader (or Bitsy Bye if you're using John Brooks' ProDOS 2.4.1). With the 'Kern Kompetenz Demo.2mg' disk image also mounted via the CFFA3000, tab to switch volumes and then select the 'Demo' executable. Voila!</p> <p>You can use this same technique to installing the demo onto a <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/microdrive-ide-turbo/">MicroDrive</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/focus/">Focus</a>, or any other type of <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/disc-controllers/">SSD / hard drive controller</a>&nbsp;to avoid loading from an actual 3.5" disk drive. See, I really am a nut about making things hard drive installable for the IIGS!</p> <p>Enjoy everyone! It's great to see another IIGS specific demo so soon after the '<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/a-new-iigs-demo-scene-emerging-ninjatracker-released/">Look Behind You</a>' demo.&nbsp;</p> Mon, 17 Apr 2017 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/ninja-force-releases-first-new-demo-for-20-years-kern-kompetenz/ My Paint v2.0 Archived with a new Art Disk http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/my-paint-v2-0-archived-with-a-new-art-disk/ <p>Thanks to Fran&ccedil;ois Michaud imaging his original rare copy of <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/my-paint/">My Paint v2.0</a>, we now have a working archive of this newer version that sports an updated interface and compatibility with the EdMark Touch Window (which makes this and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/hyperstudio-3-1/">HyperStudio</a>&nbsp;the only IIGS specific titles that I can think of that take specific advantage of this hardware).</p> <p>What I also thought was a new feature, but turns out the earlier v1.0 does as well, is when you hold down the open-apple key and click on the Disk (v1.0) or Book (v2.0) icon you can specify which art disk you'd like to access &ndash; which can be specifed for both the individual 3.5" floppes or if you copy it all to a large ProDOS volume (which I have, in an updated edition of the&nbsp;<a title="Science, Social Studies, Kids Creative, Computer Skills" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/Social_History_and_Computers.zip" target="_blank">Science, Social Studies, Kids Creative, Computer Skills</a>&nbsp;educational 32 meg image).</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p class="image left" style="width: 320;"><img title="My Paint v2.0" src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/News_Images/MyPaint02.gif" alt="My Paint v2.0" width="320" height="200" /></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>That reminded me - I hadn't actually archived the art disk that came free with my original copy of My Paint v1.0 &ndash; 'God Created the Dinosaurs'. I thought I'd forgotten, but upon reviewing it again recently, perhaps I'd not archived it on purpose. It includes images of people and dinosaurs co-habiting the Earth. If golf is the worst way to ruin a nice walk, then people and dinosaurs living together is the worst way of killing any buzz associated with my favourite 'terrible lizards'. To experience both v2.0 and the 'God Created the Dinosaurs' art disk, find the .zipped disk images on the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/my-paint/">archive page</a>.</p> <p>Be sure to download the reference card for all the features and use of v2.0 of My Paint that Fran&ccedil;ois had already previously scanned and supplied to the archive. Also of particular note &ndash; there are other art disks we don't have on archive. If anyone has 'Numbers, Shapes &amp; Colors', 'Mother Goose Favorites' and 'Star Kids Characters' by all means <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/you-can-help/">submit them</a>&nbsp;so they can be archived. It might be possible to take the data files from the Amiga versions of these if they're archived &ndash; the data files use Amiga native graphic file format .IFF.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> Sun, 23 Apr 2017 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/my-paint-v2-0-archived-with-a-new-art-disk/ Gertrude's Secrets Updated with v1.4 and Now Hard Drive Installable http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/gertrude-s-secrets-updated-with-v1-4-and-now-hard-drive-installable/ <p>Thanks to another recent 3.5" disk image by Fran&ccedil;ois Michaud and copy protection removal thanks to Antoine, we now have version 1.4 of <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/gertrude-s-secrets/">Gertrude's Secrets</a>. This classic edcuational game from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adventure_(Atari_2600)">Atari Adventure</a>&nbsp;author Warren Robinett from the Learning Company in its last iteration promises hard drive installation (useful if you want to put a nice collection of great 8-bit eduware programs together in one place) although the hard drive installer (possibly - I haven't tested beyond using a CFFA3000 or Sweet 16 emulation) only works with SCSI hard drives.</p> <p>However, I found a text document that details how you can modify a specific list of last revisions made to some Learning Company titles&nbsp;(<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/reader-rabbit/">Talking Reader Rabbit</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/math-rabbit/">Math Rabbit</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/think-quick/">Think Quick</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/magic-spells/">Magic Spells</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/gertrude-s-secrets/">Gertrude's Secrets</a>&nbsp;and Rocky's Boots) using a BASIC prompt and calling the monitor. Long story short &ndash; the new disk image works from a 3.5" inch disk (quite possibly from a 5.25" disk via ProDOS given the program is only 80k large) and if you copy the files to a hard drive (or any large ProDOS formatted volume) it will run from it. Awesome. I still hope to collect Magic Spells and Rocky's Boots (although USO has already done a <a href="http://aii.buric.co">hack</a>&nbsp;to make it work from ProDOS) &ndash; the rest we have archived.</p> Tue, 25 Apr 2017 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/gertrude-s-secrets-updated-with-v1-4-and-now-hard-drive-installable/ Appleshare via Ethernet - Now on an Apple IIGS! http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/appleshare-via-ethernet-now-on-an-apple-iigs/ <p>Some great, unexpected news! You can now connect to Applesharing servers via Ethernet on a IIGS with an <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/uthernet/">Uthernet I</a>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/uthernet-ii/">Uthernet II</a>, or a <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/lancegs/">LANceGS</a>&nbsp;card!</p> <p>This has been a wish list item since the first ethernet card, the LANceGS, came out in the '90s, not to mention that Apple's own unreleased <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/apple-ii-ethernet-card/">Apple II ethernet card</a>&nbsp;actually supports Appleshare over ethernet (I've seen it in use).</p> <p>As a control panel device (CDev), the <a href="https://sheumann.github.io/AFPBridge/">AFP Bridge</a>, in league with the existing AppleTalk networking system extensions included with <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/system-6-0-1/">System 6.0.1</a>&nbsp;(and the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/system-6-0-x/">higher revisions</a>&nbsp;not coming from Apple) and the Marinetti TCP/IP stack you can now connect to AFP v2.0 servers or any Mac running the classic Mac OS all the way up to v9.2.2 and get full Appleshare file networking! You can even connect to Macs running Mac OS X 10.0 to 10.4 as well, although Apple II file types are ignored, making working with files a little more manual (e.g. you won't be able to double click on files and expect them to open in their usual program on the IIGS).</p> <p>This Beta is only at v1.0, but this is a really cool development (although I haven't tried it myself yet). For anyone hesitating in getting an <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/uthernet-ii/">Uthernet II</a>&nbsp;card, this really gives you a new reason to invest in one and enjoy file sharing more transparently with GS/OS.</p> <p>You can grab it from this <a href="https://github.com/sheumann/AFPBridge/releases">Github link</a>&nbsp;as a ShrinkIt archive, or download my&nbsp;<img class="left" style="border: 0px initial initial;" title="null" src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/Uploads/_resampled/ResizedImage1515-icdisc.gif" alt="" hspace="null" vspace="null" width="15" height="15" align="null" />&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/System_Addons.zip">System Add-ons</a>&nbsp;32 meg 2image volume - it's in the CDevs folder.</p> Sat, 29 Apr 2017 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/appleshare-via-ethernet-now-on-an-apple-iigs/ New Hardware Archives or It's the Best Time Ever to Buy a IIGS Sound Card http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/new-hardware-archives-or-it-s-the-best-time-ever-to-buy-a-iigs-sound-card/ <p>WITA2GS? now includes archives for new <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/soundcards/">sound card</a>&nbsp;products the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/manila-gear-2soniq/">2soniq</a>&nbsp;(offering stereo output) and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/manila-gear-4soniq/">4soniq</a>&nbsp;(offering surround output) by Manila Gear and the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/byte-boosters-dark-sound/">Dark Sound</a>&nbsp;(providing stereo output and mono input) by the Byte Boosters.</p> <p>It's also not a bad time to go for RAM as well - 4 and 8 meg RAM cards have never been more affordable, so small (leaving some nice breathing room for other expansion cards, not to mention airflow if you've got an accelerator) and requiring less power draw (also good if you've got a lot of expansion cards, especially accelerators). The Byte Boosters <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/byte-boosters-4-meg-ram-xlp/">4meg</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/byte-boosters-dark-ram-8-meg/">8meg</a>&nbsp;Dark RAM have been included as memory card archives now.</p> <p>The archive is still after high resolution high quality scans, or as time marches on and good quality flatbed scanners seem to be a thing of the past, high resolution photography with even light with no obvious shadows, of one sound card (the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/sound-ace/">Parallax Sound Ace</a>) and several <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/ram/">RAM cards</a>. If you can <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/you-can-help/">help out with images</a>&nbsp;for these long sought after items, it would be greatly appreciated and credited.</p> Wed, 03 May 2017 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/new-hardware-archives-or-it-s-the-best-time-ever-to-buy-a-iigs-sound-card/ MECC Collection - run classic eduware titles from a hard drive as well as GS/OS! http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/mecc-collection-run-classic-eduware-titles-from-a-hard-drive-as-well-as-gs-os/ <p>Marco Verpelli has created something incredibly good -&nbsp;over 150 8-bit MECC titles, including classics Oregon Trail, Number Munchers and Odell Lake, all running from hard drive images booting directly from ProDOS 8 with a nice and easy menu selection screen created by MECC themselves.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p class="image left" style="width: 320;"><img title="Number Munchers" src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/News_Images/MECCCollection.gif" alt="Number Munchers" width="320" height="200" /></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>A lot of the magic comes from the MECC Copy Utility (1994-95). It was given to schools that had bought specific licenses to enable hard drive installation of their individually bought applications. Amazingly, almost most 8-bit MECC titles can be installed this way (Zooyan Patrol is one exception that uses a custom operating system that can't be installed to a hard drive). The Copy Utility can group different programs, so you could separate them into reading, mathematics, science, etc, but this image simply lists all 158 programs on the MECC Vol1.2mg and the rest on MECC Vol2.2mg. You can download them here:</p> <p><img class="left" style="border: 0px initial initial;" title="null" src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/Uploads/_resampled/ResizedImage1515-icdisc.gif" alt="" hspace="null" vspace="null" width="15" height="15" align="null" />&nbsp;<a title="8-bit MECC Collection" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/MECC_Collection.zip">8-bit MECC Collection</a>&nbsp;(~ 12.6meg)</p> <p>You can also choose to load individual programs from other program launchers, from Bitsy Bye to the System 6 Finder on the IIGS.</p> <p>Marco's outlined the process below:</p> <p>It all started this summer when the disk image of the product&nbsp;"7015V41 Copy Utility" was made available. I had already tried something&nbsp;similar with previous versions but I never managed to get the result I&nbsp;hoped for.</p> <p>This utility is the real disk to rule them all.&nbsp;MECC people have really done a great job and with little effort we can force&nbsp;the SW to go beyond what was originally designed.</p> <p>It is possible to copy (many) MECC products based on both DOS and ProDOS on&nbsp;a hard disk. The really rewarding thing is that it even works with disks from&nbsp;"unofficial sources".</p> <p>I can split the MECC products I have tried in three groups:</p> <p>1. Mostly products on 5.25" that are neither DOS or ProDOS. That is, those that&nbsp;use a very personalized operating system. As expected I could not put them&nbsp;on the hard disk</p> <p>2. 5.25" and/or 3.5" DOS or ProDOS products fully supported by the utility.&nbsp;Placing them on a hard disk is no problem.</p> <p>3. Products on 5.25" DOS not supported by the utility but with some<br /> modification it is possible to put them on a hard disk.</p> <p>For the last point here is how we can proceed:</p> <p>1. We need a "fixed" disk image because we need to edit a BAS file</p> <p>2. Look for a file called BAS type MENU in the file that contains something<br /> like:<br />&dagger;&dagger;&dagger;&dagger;&dagger;&dagger;&dagger;&dagger;&dagger;&dagger;&dagger;&dagger;<br />&dagger;&dagger;&dagger; PRINT CL$: VTAB 11: HTAB 8: PRINT "Insert Another Diskette." CC$</p> <p>&dagger;&dagger;&dagger;or:</p> <p>&dagger;&dagger;&dagger;&dagger;&dagger;PRINT CL$: &amp; CO,0,89: PRINT "Insert another diskette." CC$</p> <p>&dagger;&dagger;&dagger;change to:<br />&dagger;&dagger;&dagger;&dagger;&dagger;&dagger;&dagger;&dagger;&dagger;&dagger;&dagger;&dagger;<br />&dagger;&dagger;&dagger;&dagger;&dagger;CALL 46592:O,0,89 (N.B. O letter, 0 figure)</p> <p>3. If the product is two-sided, we need to create a single file using&nbsp;something like this:</p> <p>&dagger;&dagger;&dagger; &dagger;cat side1.dsk side2.dsk &gt; MECC.PROD</p> <p>&dagger;&dagger;&dagger;or in the case of a single face, rename the disk image to MECC.PROD</p> <p>4. We need to create a PRODUCT.INFO file, it is better to copy an existing&nbsp;one and edit it with a hex editor changing the title and the product number.</p> <p>5. Now on the hard disk we have to create a folder where to put everything in<br /> order to comply with the MECC standard the folder name must be A###.A<br /> where ### = product number and .A indicates this is the first folder with<br /> the product, if you want to have two or more independent installations of<br /> the same product, the next folders will be called .B, .C, ...</p> <p>6. We can now copy the three files into the new folder:</p> <p>MECC.SYSTEM<br /> MECC.PROD<br /> PRODUCT.INFO</p> <p>7. Use the MECC utility and ask to add an existing product to the menu.</p> <p>The maximum number of products that can be installed with the utility is 158,&nbsp;initially I thought 157 because there was a deleted item but it still occupied&nbsp;an available space. Rebuilding the menu fixed the issue.</p> <p>It's easier to do than to describe.</p> <p>Have fun!</p> <p>Marco</p> <p>Thanks again Marco! This is really kick arse, and as mentioned, software can be added from unofficial sources &ndash; i.e. non MECC software. This could be an amazing solution to including more 8-bit software on a hard drive. Stay tuned for more!</p> Mon, 08 May 2017 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/mecc-collection-run-classic-eduware-titles-from-a-hard-drive-as-well-as-gs-os/ Pelican / Toucan Software Collection Published by Queue http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/pelican-toucan-software-collection-published-by-queue/ <p>This is a big haul of creative <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/8-bit-educational-on-3-5-disk/">8-bit educational software on 3.5" disk</a>, most of which was not previously archived on either 3.5" or 5.25" disk formats. This collection is from the publisher Queue, with titles created by Toucan and Pelican software, all using the same underlying software engine to enable kids and the young at heart to produce banner books and other printable formats with their own unique creative flair. Thanks go to both Antoine Vignau (LoGo) and 4am for this collaborative archiving effort!</p> <p> <p><img src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/News_Images/Big-Book-MakerQuentin02.gif" alt="" width="320" height="200" /></p> </p> <p>After the success of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/super-print/">Super Print</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/super-print-ii/">Super Print II</a>, Pelican Software seemed to stumble upon a winning formula for their software &ndash; milk the 'engine' for all it's worth by putting out different themed versions (create wacky Robots, zany monsters, crazy methods of transportation, to name but a few) of their simple but effective 'Big Book' or banner composition layout tools.</p> <p>Each Pelican and Toucan title includes the same simple menu driven interface where you can choose backgrounds, multiple foreground characters and/or objects, as well as frames, positioning different elements in a composition to view on screen or print on a tried and true dot matrix printer. Finalised designs can be saved anywhere on a ProDOS volume, so these 800k disk images not only provide easy access to artwork without disk swapping, but there's also a good deal of storage left on each 3.5" disk to save work as well. Not to mention that you can save to hard drives as well!</p> <p>Super Print II&nbsp;can utilise ALL the artwork from each of these Queue titles, so that's a heap of artwork to draw from for use with&nbsp;Super Print II. I've had a quick try to see if titles can use the art from other Pelican titles, but they appeared 'greyed out' when you enter their folders. Some titles may allow it, but your mileage may vary.&nbsp;Super Print II&nbsp;is the best way to go to combine artwork from multiple Pelican titles.<br />Many of these Pelican titles support speech support with an Echo sound device, so if you're lucky to have one, that would give these titles an extra dimension as well.</p> <p>Another great feature of all these is that they are ALL hard drive installable - you can copy them to any folder or sub directory and they still continue to work.</p> <p>Have fun - all these titles combined, along with some available printers, should provide a fun day for youngsters to be creative in a fun retro way!</p> <p>These are the new titles now archived:</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/alice-in-wonderland-and-the-wizard-of-oz/">Alice in Wonderland and the Wizard of Oz</a>&nbsp;(1992-Queue) v1.4</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/animals-with-an-attitude/">Animals with an Attitude</a>&nbsp;(1992-Queue) v1.4</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/beauty-and-the-beast-and-the-little-mermaid/">Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid</a>&nbsp;(1992-Queue) v1.4</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/big-book-maker-cute-and-cuddly/">Big Book Maker - Cute and Cuddly</a>&nbsp;(1992-Queue) v?</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/big-book-maker-favorite-fairy-tales-and-nursery-rhymes/">Big Book Maker - Favorite Fairy Tales and Nursery Rhymes</a>&nbsp;(1990-Pelican Software) v?</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/big-book-maker-feel-good-about-yourself/">Big Book Maker - Feel Good About Yourself</a>&nbsp;(1992-Pelican Software) v?</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/big-book-maker-let-s-pretend/">Big Book Maker - Let's Pretend</a>&nbsp;(1992-Queue) v?</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/big-book-maker-letters-numbers-shapes/">Big Book Maker - Letters, Numbers, Shapes</a>&nbsp;(1992-Pelican Software) v?</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/big-book-maker-myths-and-legends/">Big Book Maker - Myths and Legends</a>&nbsp;(1992-Queue) v?</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/big-book-maker-quentin/">Big Book Maker - Quentin</a>&nbsp;(1992-Queue) v?</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/big-book-maker-tall-tales-and-american-folk-heroes/">Big Book Maker - Tall Tales and American Folk Heroes</a>&nbsp;(1992-Queue) v?</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/big-book-maker-the-rain-forest/">Big Book Maker - The Rain Forest</a>&nbsp;(1993-Queue) v?</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/dinosaur-days-plus/">Dinosaur Days Plus</a>&nbsp;(1988-Pelican Software)[Also includes a Learning Disk]</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/robin-hood-and-peter-pan/">Robin Hood and Peter Pan</a>&nbsp;(1992-Queue) v1.4</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/robot-writer-plus/">Robot Writer Plus</a>&nbsp;(1988-Pellican Software)</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/big-book-maker-the-three-princesses/">Big Book Maker - The Three Princesses</a>&nbsp;(1992-Queue)</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/transportation-transformation/">Transportation Transformation</a>&nbsp;(1991-Pelican Software)</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Adding to the titles that were already archived:</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/the-whole-neighborhood/">The Whole Neighborhood</a>&nbsp;v1.3</p> <p><a title="Your School Day" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/your-school-day/" target="_blank">Your School Day</a></p> <p><a title="Monsters and Make Believe" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/monsters-make-believe/">Monsters and Make Believe</a></p> <p><a title="Banner Books Across America" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/banner-books-across-america/" target="_blank">Banner Books Across America</a></p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/story-starters-science/">Story Starters - Science</a>&nbsp;(1988-Pelican Software)</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/story-starters-social-studies/">Story Starters - Social Studies</a>&nbsp;(1988-Pelican Software)</p> <p><a title="Pow-Zap-Kerplunk Comic Book Maker" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/pow-zap-kerplunk-comic-book-maker/" target="_blank">Pow-Zap-Kerplunk Comic Book Maker</a></p> <p><a title="Reading and Writing with the Boars" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/reading-writing-with-the-boars/" target="_blank">Reading and Writing with the Boars</a></p> <p>While we have a large collection, it's only almost complete; these are the titles we still require on archive, if they exist, as we can only reference the back of each of the boxes which included a catalogue of all the Queue published titles.</p> <p>Letters, Pictures &amp; Words<br />The Boars 1, 2, 3<br />The Boars Tell Time<br />Reading Riddles<br />Fraction Fairy Tales<br />The Boars in Camelot</p> <p>Quentin Around the House<br />Quentin Visits a Factory<br />Quentin Goes to School<br />Quentin Visits the Big City</p> <div><br /></div> Mon, 05 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/pelican-toucan-software-collection-published-by-queue/ 8-bit Eduware on 32meg Disk Image http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/8-bit-eduware-on-32meg-disk-image/ <p>With the recent addition of so many 8-bit educational titles (see the <a title="Pelican / Toucan archives" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/pelican-toucan-software-collection-published-by-queue/" target="_blank">Pelican / Toucan archives</a>), I've decided to finish up a &lsquo;beta' version of a 32meg image including nothing but 8-bit eduwares...some of which run correctly from a 'hard drive' or any large ProDOS volume. Others, not so much.</p> <p><img class="left" style="border: 0px initial initial;" title="null" src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/Uploads/_resampled/ResizedImage1515-icdisc.gif" alt="" hspace="null" vspace="null" width="15" height="15" align="null" />&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/8-bit_Eduware.zip">8-bit Eduware</a>&nbsp;(A self-booting collation of&nbsp;8-bit educational software, ~8.3meg)</p> <p><img class="left" style="border: 0px initial initial;" title="null" src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/Uploads/_resampled/ResizedImage1515-icdisc.gif" alt="" hspace="null" vspace="null" width="15" height="15" align="null" />&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/8-bit_Creative.zip">8-bit Creative</a>&nbsp;(A self-booting collation of&nbsp;8-bit creative software, ~10.1meg)</p> <p>Why am I particularly obsessed with hard drive installable software? Well, if ever there was going to be a museum that allowed people to use Apple II's to see what it's really like to use one, I feel having a solid state drive is a good compromise -&nbsp;yes, it does remove the experience of using real 5.25" and 3.5" floppy disks (but at the same time, putting less wear on these mediums and the drives that read and write to them), but it will provide (after a three finger salute reboot if a program doesn't offer a &lsquo;quit' option) a more intuitive and familiar way of presenting a menu to select which program to load next. Also, this method should be much faster than traditional media, allowing more time to actually explore the software and less time waiting for things to load. Using 3.5" disk based 8-bit software is a good base to do this as the software has been designed to run the program and its data from a single volume, where as many 5.25" disks ask for different disks &ndash; this may simplify the process of getting as many working titles onto a ProDOS mass storage volume.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p class="image left" style="width: 320;"><img title="Where in America's Past is Carmen Sandiego" src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/8-bit-Eduware/8BitEduCollection01.gif" alt="Where in America's Past is Carmen Sandiego" width="320" height="200" /></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>This 32meg image self boots and runs Sneeze v2.2 by Karl Bunker, a good program launcher (and then some, with some file management abilities and allowing you to read text files and view graphic files). 8-bit eduware is allocated across folders representing different educational categories. I've used the IIGS utility <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/universe-master/">Universe Master</a>&nbsp;to alphabetise the order of the files in every directory, which should help find what you're looking for more quickly if you keep this in mind.</p> <p>The following is a list of what does and doesn't work on this 32meg ProDOS volume. It's possible that many of these titles could work if, when sector editing, the hard path looking for the program's data is changed to a file path for this 32meg volume. HOWEVER, this crude method (the only way which I am capable) might be limited by the already large number of characters in the volume name and then the name of a sub directory.</p> <p>I encourage anyone with more programming and sector editing skills than I to see if you can correct any of the following:</p> <p><span style="text-decoration: line-through;"><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/40-000-selected-words/">40,000 Selected Words</a>&nbsp;- Seems to work great</span><br /><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/40-000-selected-words/">Alge Blaster</a>&nbsp;- The only executable is SHELL.SYS...which takes you to a shell.<br /><span style="text-decoration: line-through;"><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/alge-blaster-plus/">Alge Blaster Plus</a>&nbsp;- Asks for original disk to be inserted after you enter your name</span><br /><span style="text-decoration: line-through;"><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/algebra-shop/">Algebra Shop</a>&nbsp;- Seems to work perfectly</span><br /><span style="text-decoration: line-through;"><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/animal-watch-whales/">Animal Watch Whales</a>&nbsp;- Explore Version date display - then hangs</span><br /><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/atlas-explorer/">Atlas Explorer</a>&nbsp;- Hangs after launch<br /><span style="text-decoration: line-through;"><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/banner-books-across-america/">Banner Books Across America</a>&nbsp;- Works perfectly</span><br /><span style="text-decoration: line-through;">Fairy Tales Big Book Maker - Works perfectly</span><br /><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/children-s-writing-publishing-center/">Children's Writing &amp; Publishing Center</a>&nbsp;- &lsquo;*** UNABLE TO FIND STARTUP ***' error message,&nbsp;<br /><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/classmate/">Classmate</a>&nbsp;- <span style="text-decoration: line-through;">Asks for original disk</span>. Now works from a hard drive, however is still looking for data on floppy disks.<br /><span style="text-decoration: line-through;"><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/destination-mars/">Destination Mars</a>&nbsp;- Works great</span><br /><span style="text-decoration: line-through;"><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/electric-crayon/">Electric Crayon</a>&nbsp;- All work great</span><br /><span style="text-decoration: line-through;"><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/explore-australia/">Explore Australia</a>&nbsp;- Displays a crack date but then hangs</span><br /><span style="text-decoration: line-through;"><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/gertrude-s-secrets/">Gertrude's Secrets</a>&nbsp;- works great with v2.3</span><br /><span style="text-decoration: line-through;"><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/hollywood-squares/">Hollywood Squares</a>&nbsp;- Works perfectly</span><br /><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/homeworker/">Homeworker</a>&nbsp;- Asks for original disk<br /><span style="text-decoration: line-through;"><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/joshua-s-reading-machine/">Joshua's Reading Machine</a>&nbsp;- Works perfectly</span><br /><span style="text-decoration: line-through;"><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/magic-slate-ii/">Magic Slate II</a>&nbsp;- asks for original disk</span><br /><span style="text-decoration: line-through;"><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/magic-spells/">Magic Spells</a>&nbsp;- now includes v2.3, which works from mass storage volumes.</span><br /><span style="text-decoration: line-through;"><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/math-and-me-8-bit/">Math and Me</a>&nbsp;- Works great!</span><br /><span style="text-decoration: line-through;"><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/math-blaster/">Math Blaster</a>&nbsp;- Fails after launching the BASIC startup program</span><br /><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/math-blaster-mystery/">Math Blaster Mystery</a>&nbsp;- <span style="text-decoration: line-through;">From System 6, works great with v1.3! ProDOS 8 - quits immediately!</span> Replaced with a fresh crack by LoGO &ndash; now works from both ProDOS 8 and GS/OS now! However it doesn't quit back to GS/OS! Still, this is the better version so far.<br /><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/math-blaster-plus-8-bit/">Math Blaster Plus</a>&nbsp;- Asks for original disk (may also require patch for record keeping to maintain students' progress)<br /><span style="text-decoration: line-through;"><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/math-rabbit/">Math Rabbit</a>&nbsp;- Works perfectly</span><br /><span style="text-decoration: line-through;"><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/math-shop-junior/">Math Shop</a>&nbsp;- &lsquo;CHECK YOUR DISK DRIVE' error message</span><br /><span style="text-decoration: line-through;">Math Shop Fractions &amp; Decimals - &lsquo;CHECK YOUR DISK DRIVE' error message</span><br /><span style="text-decoration: line-through;"><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/40-000-selected-words/">Monsters &amp; Make Believe</a>&nbsp;- Works perfectly</span><br /><span style="text-decoration: line-through;"><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/nature-park-adventure/">Nature Park Adventure</a>&nbsp;- Seems to work fine</span><br /><span style="text-decoration: line-through;">Perfect Career - Error! Disk #2 not found message</span><br /><span style="text-decoration: line-through;"><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/playroom-the/">Playroom, The</a>&nbsp;- Works fine from ProDOS 8, but hangs when run from System 6.</span><br /><span style="text-decoration: line-through;"><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/pow-zap-kerplunk-comic-book-maker/">Pow Zap Kerplunk Comic Book Maker</a>&nbsp;- Works perfectly</span><br /><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/read-n-roll/">Read n Roll</a>&nbsp;- Works with v1.1, HOWEVER, record keeping is still looking for the floppy disk - patch required to save students' progress<br /><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/reading-writing-with-the-boars/">Reading &amp; Writing with the Boars</a>&nbsp;- runs but with graphic glitches<br /><span style="text-decoration: line-through;"><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/reading-and-me-8-bit/">Reading and Me</a>&nbsp;- Runs perfectly!</span><br /><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/reading-team-people-and-places/">Reading Team People and Places</a>&nbsp;- Asks for original disk to be inserted after you enter your name<br /><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/report-card/"><span style="text-decoration: line-through;">Report Card</span></a>&nbsp;- Works from GS/OS, but I haven't found how to make it work from Sneeze.<br /><span style="text-decoration: line-through;"><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/return-of-the-dinosaurs/">Return of the Dinosaurs</a>&nbsp;- Hangs on HGR screen &lsquo;Please wait'.&nbsp;</span>Works only from the root directory!<br /><span style="text-decoration: line-through;">Scholastic Slide Shop</span> - Works great! (essentially Powerpoint for the 8-bit Apple II!)<br /><span style="text-decoration: line-through;"><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/sensible-grammar/">Sensible Grammar</a>&nbsp;- Seems to work great</span><br /><span style="text-decoration: line-through;"><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/sensible-speller/">Sensible Speller</a>&nbsp;- Seems to work great</span><br /><span style="text-decoration: line-through;"><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/sesame-street-learning-library-volume/">Sesame Street Learning Library Volume 1</a>&nbsp;- Seems to work great</span><br /><span style="text-decoration: line-through;"><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/speed-reader/">Speed Reader II</a>&nbsp;- Fails after launching the BASIC startup program</span><br /><span style="text-decoration: line-through;"><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/spell-it/">Spell It</a>&nbsp;- Fails after launching the BASIC startup program</span><br /><span style="text-decoration: line-through;"><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/spell-it-plus/">Spell It Plus</a>&nbsp;- Works perfectly!</span><br /><span style="text-decoration: line-through;"><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/story-starters-science/">Story Starters Science</a>&nbsp;- Works perfectly!</span><br /><span style="text-decoration: line-through;"><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/story-starters-social-studies/">Story Starters Social Studies</a>&nbsp;- Works perfectly!</span><br /><span style="text-decoration: line-through;"><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/studymate/">Studymate</a>&nbsp;- Seems to work perfectly</span><br /><span style="text-decoration: line-through;"><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/super-print/">Super Print</a>&nbsp;- Works perfectly</span><br /><span style="text-decoration: line-through;"><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/super-print-ii/">Super Print II</a>&nbsp;- Works perfectly</span><br /><span style="text-decoration: line-through;"><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/super-story-tree/">Super Story Tree</a>&nbsp;- Works perfectly</span><br /><span style="text-decoration: line-through;"><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/treehouse-the/">The Treehouse</a>&nbsp;- Works perfectly</span><br /><span style="text-decoration: line-through;"><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/the-whole-neighborhood/">The Whole Neighbourhood</a>&nbsp;- Works perfectly</span><br /><span style="text-decoration: line-through;"><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/think-quick/">Think Quick</a>&nbsp;- v1.4 works with ProDOS 8, but doesn't with System 6</span><br /><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/vocabulary-team-health-science/">Vocabulary Team Science &amp; Health</a>&nbsp;- Asks for original disk to be inserted<br /><span style="text-decoration: line-through;"><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/where-in-europe-is-carmen-sandiego/">Where in Europe is Carmen?</a>&nbsp;&lsquo;Error 45 on file 00' error then hang</span><br /><span style="text-decoration: line-through;"><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/where-in-the-world-is-carmen-sandiego-8-bit/">Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?</a>&nbsp;&lsquo;Error 45 on file FF' error then hang</span><br /><span style="text-decoration: line-through;"><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/where-in-time-is-carmen-sandiego/">Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego?</a>&nbsp;- Crashes to monitor</span><br /><span style="text-decoration: line-through;"><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/where-in-america-s-past-is-carmen-sandiego/">Where is Carmen Sandiego in America's Past?</a>&nbsp;- Works great, but this isn't cracked - you can play 1 case before the game then asks for a word look-up in the manual.</span><br /><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/word-attack/">Word Attack</a>&nbsp;- Fails after launching the BASIC startup program<br /><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/word-attack-plus/">Word Attack Plus</a>&nbsp;- Asks for original disk to be inserted after you enter your name. Updated with version 1.2.<br /><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/word-attack-plus-french/">Word Attack Plus French</a>&nbsp;- Asks for original disk to be inserted after you enter your name<br /><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/word-attack-plus-spanish/">Word Attack Plus Spanish</a>&nbsp;- Asks for original disk to be inserted after you enter your name<br /><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/writer-rabbit/">Writer Rabbit</a>&nbsp;- Doesn't work. According to the documentation the Learning Company released regarding newer versions of their classic eduware, there isn't a newer official version that will support hard drive installation. it will require a hack.<br /><span style="text-decoration: line-through;"><a title="Your School Day" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/your-school-day/" target="_blank">Your School Day</a>&nbsp;- Works fine</span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: line-through;"> </span></p> <p class="image left" style="width: 320;"><img title="Muppetville Factory Segment" src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/8-bit-Eduware/8BitEduCollection02.gif" alt="Muppetville Factory Segment" width="320" height="200" /></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>With recent 8-bit 32meg disk images being done by John M Holmes Jnr and Jason Kersten on the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/5251478676/">Apple II Enthusiasts group</a>&nbsp;on Facebook, Jason did a particularly good job using Prosel-8 to make a menu selection screen. I think I'll adopt this approach instead of using Sneeze for future revisions of this 32meg image of 8-bit educational software, as it's much more user friendly and efficient to loading each of the programs, not to mention that if the only to fix some programs is changing the hard path, an edited menu system can hide the ugly folder naming that would be required for hard path changes.</p> <p>For those who have been in close contact with me, my wife and I have just had our second child and it's getting increasingly challenging to find time for the Apple II. For the meantime though, I'll get this 'beta' version out there so all can have a play with it, and if you're inclined 'fix' some of the programs listed above that aren't currently working on this volume.</p> <p><strong>UPDATE: 18/6/2017</strong> &ndash; qkumba has already been able to hack Alge Blaster Plus! to work from a large ProDOS volume! The disk image has been updated with the newer version.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p class="image left" style="width: 320;"><img title="Explore Australia" src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/8-bit-Eduware/8BitEduCollection03.gif" alt="Explore Australia" width="320" height="200" /></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>UPDATE: 19/6/2017</strong> &ndash; qkumba has now patched both Explore Australia and Whale Watch and they now work from the 32meg image! Marco Verpelli has also done great initial work &ndash; Where in Europe is Carmen Sandiego is now playable from any directory, and we've now also got the rare ProDOS based version of Where in the U.S.A is Carmen Sandiego &ndash; now fully working from any large ProDOS volume. Great work! There will be more to come!</p> <p><strong>UPDATE: 28/6/2017</strong> &ndash; qkumba and Marco have been making great strides, meeting each new challenge with aplomb! Marco's got the entire 8-bit Carmen Sandiego series working from a hard drive (with thanks from Antoine Vignau for providing a disk image of the ultra rare <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/where-in-the-usa-is-carmen-sandiego-8-bit/">Where in the USA is Carmen Sandiego on 3.5" disk</a>). But it's turned out it's not as simple as that &ndash; additional patches had to made to ensure saved games 'stick' after a restart, that references to saving games to floppy drives are removed, and there are still vestiges of each program asking for manual word look-up after the first case is solved, although entering anything will work. But it's awesome to play each of these influential titles from a single volume. For an encore, Marco's also made Math Shop and Math Shop Fractions and Decimals work.</p> <p>qkumba's fixed Whale Watch and Explore Australia, and they required more than simply running from a hard drive too, requiring additional patches to load and save data after editing the built in stories. This has also led to adding additional 'Explore' titles, which have only been found in 5.25" format, but run beautifully from a large ProDOS volume including <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/explore-a-story-rosie-the-counting-rabbit/">Rosie the Counting Rabbit</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/explore-a-story-a-brand-new-view/">A Brand New View</a>&nbsp;and <a title="What Makes a Dinosaur Sore?" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/explore-a-story-where-did-my-toothbrush-go-2/" target="_blank">What Makes a Dinosaur Sore?</a>&nbsp;There are still many more in the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/8-bit-on-3-5-disk-educational-titles-updates/">Explore series</a>&nbsp;to be found, so please archive them if they're on 5.25" or 3.5" disk &ndash; they are currently unpreserved. Additionally, qkumba's also made the Perfect Career and Classmate work from a hard drive, as well as the original Math Blaster and Spell It!</p> <p><strong>UPDATE: 8/7/2017</strong> &ndash; I checked if there were other Pelican / Queue titles that had been archived on 5.25" disk to add to this collection and sure enough, there are:&nbsp;Monstrous Monsters, Bulletin Board Maker - City and Country, Bulletin Board Maker - Your Neighborhood and Banner Books - All Along The Alphabet -&nbsp;all thanks to 4am. Copying their application files to a folder created for each title, then creating a new folder in each called 'Pelican.Art' and copying all the artwork files from the 3 other 5.25" floppy disk images seemed to be doing the job of the single volume 3.5" disk release...although I also copied the 'DISK.INFO' file from other 3.5" disk releases to replace the one found on the first 5.25" disk image for each of these titles. Then they work great from a hard drive, not expecting files to come from the 5.25" disk drive.</p> <p>In reviewing everything done for this 8-bit 32meg Eduware disk image, I found I forgot to copy over the 3.5" disk version of the original <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/word-attack/">Word Attack</a>&nbsp;&ndash; that's on the 32 meg image now, but still requires a patch to make it work from a hard drive, as well as look locally in its folder for additional files from separately released data disks. The same patch still needs to be done for all the original Davidson releases - Math Blaster, Spell It!, and Speed Reader II.</p> <p>I also realised I forgot to copy over Read 'n Roll, so I did that from the v1.1 800k disk version 4am archived. Conveniently, it works from a large ProDOS volume straight away, HOWEVER, further testing revealed that record keeping is still looking to load/save from a floppy drive, so a patch will be required to provide full functionality to the game. This in turn also made me realise that I forgot to copy over Reading Team People and Places and Team Vocabulary Health &amp; Science to the 32meg volume and In doing so, we've now run out of disk space (Team Vocab is too large to fit). Apart from shaving 3k from the Icons file, I'm out of ideas of saving more space on this volume for more programs!</p> <p>One other minor note was that I tried 4am's crack of Math Blaster Plus! (a rather definitive educational title for the Apple II) to replace the version previously on the 32meg image that would quit back to the launcher almost immediately. The 4am crack will now load the 'fake' desktop of Math Blaster Plus, but now a dialogue appears asking to insert the floppy disk. At least that's progress. Old version must have been corrupted somehow.</p> <p>Also, Report Card works fine from GS/OS now, but for the life of me, I can't figure out how to make it run from ProDOS 8 and Sneeze.</p> <p><strong>UPDATE: 4/8/2017: </strong>I forgot to mention, Report Card has been working fine now &ndash; I forgot to update its status here. I also forgot to copy a file over to the 32meg image, ummm, the cause of it not working (thanks for letting me know Marco!). I don't know how parents function with 3 children &ndash; 2 is enough!</p> <p><strong>UPDATE: 5/8/2017: </strong>As the Eduware volume has now surpassed its 32 meg capacity, I've taken the largest category (in terms of file size) and spun it off into another 32 meg ProDOS volume (<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/8-bit_Creative.zip">8-bit Creative</a>) and added not only educational creative software, but all-round creative software as well. Reason being is that 4am recently cracked some nice 'new' ProDOS 8 based double-hi res eduware that's never been cracked before (Journey to the Age of Dinosaurs - North America and Europe &amp; Asia) and Marco has snapped up the opportunity to get these newly discovered wares working from a large ProDOS volume. He notes that despite the time period these were released (1990) they STILL didn't think to make them work from hard drives! Anyways, there's more edu software to run from a hard drive, so we're now better prepared for it! Speaking of which, I remembered that Donald's Alphabet Chase, an eduware on 5.25" disk used ProDOS thanks to Jeremy Barr Hyde's recent&nbsp;<a href="https://jbretro.wordpress.com/2017/07/30/donalds-alphabet-chase-boxed-apple-ii-educational-software-complete/">full archive</a>&nbsp;of the title. It's cracked, so what's the harm in trying to copy it to the Eduware volume to see if it runs from there? It asks for a look-up sheet to correctly number a pose of Donald Duck after the title screen, but you can enter any number and it will accept it...and voila! It works from a hard drive! Feel free to write in with any ProDOS 8 based eduware titles that you know of so we can trial them running from a hard drive. Stay tuned, more to come.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p class="image left" style="width: 320;"><img title="National Geographic Age of Dinosaurs Europe &amp; Asia" src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/8-bit-Eduware/8BitEduCollection05.gif" alt="National Geographic Age of Dinosaurs Europe &amp; Asia" width="320" height="200" /></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>UPDATE 19/8/2017:</strong> Marco has made the rather excellent &lsquo;The Weather Machine' by National Geographic (a 4am crack) work from a hard drive, although there are still minor quibbles like the program asking to flip the disk, and the program making references to files that aren't there, but it's fully useable regardless.</p> <p>Given in the last update I split the creative eduware into its own 32meg volume called &lsquo;Creative', that freed up a lot of Space on &lsquo;Eduware'. How could I fill that space on both volumes when we've already collected every ProDOS 8 compatible 8-bit eduware from 3.5"? Look for more ProDOS 8 based titles on 5.25" disk, like Donald's Alphabet Chase, I guess. But searching through ALL the educational archives on Asimov would take a LONG time...and then I remembered, 4am wrote very nicely descriptive and often humourous notes for his cracks...including whether the format was custom, DOS 3.3 or...ProDOS. Using Spotlight on macOS to find mentions of ProDOS across everything I'd downloaded from Asimov, I found the following titles.</p> <p>The following is a log of how they did or didn't work by copying files to the &lsquo;Eduware' or &lsquo;Creative' volumes, and where within a sub directory. For those titles that didn't, other brave souls may step in to help getting them working. They are grouped by publisher, which reveals some trends. For example, any Electric Crayon title will run from a hard drive if it's been cracked, no modification required (are there any more in this series to be archived?). Gameco Industries ProDOS based titles, even spread across two 5.25" disks, all worked too. Sunburst titles are mixed -&nbsp;some work, others not:</p> <p>Sesame Street Crayon Letters For You (4am crack). Simply copied to hard drive -&nbsp;no additional modification needed to run from a large ProDOS volume. Sorted into folder with other Electric Crayon titles. Copied to &lsquo;Creative/Electric.Crayon' volume and folder.</p> <p>Sesame Street Crayon Opposites Attract (4am crack). Simply copied to hard drive -&nbsp;no additional modification needed to run from a large ProDOS volume. Sorted into folder with other Electric Crayon titles. Copied to &lsquo;Creative/Electric.Crayon' volume and folder.</p> <p>Sesame Street Crayon Numbers Count (Clean crack) Copied to hard drive -&nbsp;no additional modification needed to run from a large ProDOS volume. Sorted into folder with other Electric Crayon titles. Copied to &lsquo;Creative/Electric.Crayon' volume and folder.</p> <p>MuppetVille (4am crack) by Sunburst. Copied to hard drive -&nbsp;no additional modification needed to run from a large ProDOS volume. Copied to &lsquo;Eduware/Math' folder.</p> <p>Muppet Slate (4am crack) by Sunburst. Copied to hard drive -&nbsp;no additional modification needed to run from a large ProDOS volume. I included disk 2 as a folder named the same as disk 2 inside the folder with the application and it seems to find the two sample stories straight away! Does this require a special keyboard provided with the boxed software however? Copied to &lsquo;Eduware/Read.n.Write' folder.</p> <p>Muppet Word Book by Sunburst. Cracked by 4am and copied to hard drive -&nbsp;no additional modification needed to run from a large ProDOS volume. I included disk 2 as a folder inside the folder with the application and it seems to find the two sample stories straight away! Copied to &lsquo;Eduware/Read.n.Write' folder.</p> <p>Curious George in Outer Space by DLM (4am crack). Copied disk 1 to a folder and combined files from disk 2 -&nbsp;works great! Copied to &lsquo;Eduware/Curious.George/In.Outer.Space'</p> <p>Curious George Visits the Library by DLM (4am crack). Copied disk 1 to a folder and combined files from disk 2 -&nbsp;works great! Copied to &lsquo;Eduware/Curious.George/Visits.Library'</p> <p>Curious George Goes Shopping by DLM (4am crack). Copied disk 1 to a folder and combined files from disk 2 -&nbsp;works great! Copied to &lsquo;Eduware/Curious.George/Goes.Shopping'</p> <p>Spy's Adventures</p> <p>Spy's Adventures (North America) (South America) (Europe) - none work (crash to monitor after launching), but presumably one fix will work for all three (and weren't there more in the series, like Asia and the Pacific?) Non-4am cracks used as they are newer versions going by file dates. Copied to &lsquo;Eduware/Not.Working' folder.</p> <p>Troll First Start Writing Program (4am crack) Copied to &lsquo;Read.n.Write/Troll.Writer' folder.</p> <p>Scholastic Homework Writer (4am crack) runs from hard drive, but anything to do with requesting files is always looking for specific 5.25" floppy disks. Copied to &lsquo;Eduware/Not.Working' folder.</p> <p>Memory Building Blocks (Sunburst) freezes on a screen saying &lsquo;X - Touch Here'. Some weird touch screen support that Sweet 16 can't emulate? Copied to &lsquo;Eduware/Not.Working' folder.</p> <p>The Boars' Store (Pelican) Copied contents of both disks to hard drive. Asks for disk 2 after main menu, but pressing return continues the game on. Copied to &lsquo;Eduware/Math/Boars.Store'</p> <p>Troll Printmaker - Holiday Fun (4am crack). Copied both contents together. While the program loads fine, it's expecting data to be found on a 5.25" disk, so not fully working. Copied to &lsquo;Eduware/Not.Working' folder.</p> <p>Tiger's Tales by Sunburst. Cracked by 4am and copied to hard drive -&nbsp;no additional modification needed to run from a large ProDOS volume. Copied to &lsquo;Eduware/Read.n.Write' folder.</p> <p>Type to Learn by Sunburst. Cracked by 4am crack. Copied both disks to separate folders. Launched BASIC program STARTUP from disk 1. Crashed to blank screen.Copied to &lsquo;Eduware/Not.Working/QWERTY1' and &lsquo;QWERTY2' folders.</p> <p>Royal Rules rev 2 by Sunburst. Cracked by 4am crack. Copied both disks to separate folders. Launched BASIC program STARTUP from disk 1. Game plays, but will eventually ask for the program disk and you can't continue. Copied to &lsquo;Eduware/Not.Working' folder.</p> <p>Teddy and Iggy by Sunburst. Cracked by 4am crack. Copied contents to folder on hard drive but quits back to GS/OS Finder immediately. Runs fine from the 5.25" disk from GS/OS, so must immediately be looking for support files in slot 6, drive 1. Curiously, the original disk image is named &lsquo;TEDDYIGGY5.25', almost is if a 3.5" disk version might be available to name it so specifically that way. Hopefully, a redirect to support files can be made. Copied to &lsquo;Eduware/Not.Working' folder.</p> <p>Subtract with Balancing Bear (4am crack) by Sunburst. Copied to hard drive -&nbsp;no additional modification needed to run from a large ProDOS volume. Copied to &lsquo;Eduware/Math' folder.</p> <p>Simon Says (4am crack) by Sunburst. Copied to hard drive -&nbsp;no additional modification needed to run from a large ProDOS volume. Copied to &lsquo;Eduware/Math' folder.</p> <p>Regrouping 1989 (4am crack) by Sunburst. Copied both disks to separate folders. Launched BASIC program STARTUP. Crashed to blank screen after displaying Sunburst title screen. Copied to &lsquo;Eduware/Not.Working' folder.</p> <p>Algernon (4am crack) by Sunburst. Copied to hard drive -&nbsp;running STARTUP BASIC program no additional modification needed to run from a large ProDOS volume. Copied to &lsquo;Eduware/Computer.Skills' folder.</p> <p>Bounce (4am crack) by Sunburst. Copied to hard drive -&nbsp;running LOADER.SYSTEM program no additional modification needed to run from a large ProDOS volume. Copied to &lsquo;Eduware/Math' folder. Crashes if you quit to run another program, but that's no real problem given most of these titles restart the computer rather than quit to a launching application.</p> <p>Creativity, Unlimited by Sunburst (4am crack) Copied contents of both disks to same folder, as well as keeping disk two contents in a folder of the same as the disk it came from. Neither way of storing files from both disks ensured the program launched successfully. Starburst logo appears very briefly, then the screen is full of &lsquo;2's. Tried alternate display mode on IIGS, which is known to fix this display of a screen full of &lsquo;2', which revealed different gibberish that wasn't any more helpful (to me).</p> <p>End Punctuation by Gamco Industries, Inc. (4am crack) Copied disk 1 to it's own named folder (End.Punctuation). Copied data files from disk 2 into the &lsquo;G128' folder. Voila! Game works fine from a hard drive! Copied to &lsquo;Eduware/Read.n.Write' folder.</p> <p>Essential Punctuation by Gamco Industries, Inc. (4am crack) Copied disk 1 to it's own named folder (Essen.Punctu8n). Copied data files from disk 2 into the &lsquo;G156' folder. Game works fine from a hard drive! Copied to &lsquo;Eduware/Read.n.Write' folder.</p> <p>Eureka - Following Directions Level B (4am crack) by Gamco Industries, Inc. (4am crack) Copied disk 1 to it's own named folder (Essen.Punctu8n). Copied data files from disk 2 into the &lsquo;G175' folder. Game works fine from a hard drive! Copied to &lsquo;Eduware/Read.n.Write' folder.</p> <p>Math Football (4am crack) by Gamco Industries, Inc. Copied disk 1 to it's own named folder (Math.Football). Copied data files from disk 2 into the &lsquo;G137' folder. Game works fine from a hard drive! Copied to &lsquo;Eduware/Math' folder.</p> <p>Math Leapfrog (4am crack) by Gamco Industries, Inc. Copied disk 1 to it's own named folder (Math.LeapFrog). Copied data files from disk 2 into the &lsquo;G134' folder. Game works from a hard drive! Copied to &lsquo;Eduware/Math' folder.</p> <p>Mission Control Word Games - Homonyms, Antonyms, and Synonyms v4.1.6 (4am crack) by Gamco Industries, Inc. Copied disk 1 to it's own named folder (MC.Word.Games). Copied data files from disk 2 into the &lsquo;G132' folder. Game works from a hard drive! Copied to &lsquo;Eduware/Read.Write' folder.</p> <p>The Word Problem Game Show (4am crack) by Gamco Industries, Inc. Copied disk 1 to it's own named folder (WrdProbGameShow). Copied data files from disk 2 into the &lsquo;G183' folder. Game works from a hard drive! Copied to &lsquo;Eduware/Math' folder.</p> <p>Reading Magic Library - Jack in the Beanstalk (4am crack) WORKS great! Copied contents of both disks into the one folder and voila! Moved to &lsquo;Eduware/Read.Write'</p> <p>Five in a Row - Addition and Subtraction by Critical Thinking Press (4am crack). Can copy over contents of both disks, but there's no obvious executable to run from GS/OS or ProDOS 8. There is a &lsquo;STARTUP' file, but it's a binary file. Added to &lsquo;Not.Working' folder.</p> <p>Five in a Row - Division by Critical Thinking Press (4am crack). Can copy over contents of both disks, but there's no obvious executable to run from GS/OS or ProDOS 8. There is a &lsquo;STARTUP' file, but it's a binary file. Added to &lsquo;Not.Working' folder.</p> <p>Force and Motion by Queue, Inc. (4am crack). Tried copying over everything from both disks, as well as keeping disk two contents in a folder of the same as the disk it came from. The program gets to the menu, and even the first menu selection and another gets you into an intro description of physicals, but when an example of motion is shown (presumably an animation) it crashes. Selecting the last item from the main menu crashes also -&nbsp;I assume it's looking for data files from the second disk and can't find them.</p> <p>Grizzly Bears by Audubon (4am crack). Copied all files into a single folder, and amazingly, works fine. Copied to &lsquo;Eduware/Science' folder. Unfortuntaely, Audubon Whales (LoGo crack) does not work, however.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="image left" style="width: 320;"> <p class="image left" style="width: 320;"><img title="Subtraction with Balancing Bear by Sunburst" src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/8-bit-Eduware/8BitEduCollection06.gif" alt="Subtraction with Balancing Bear by Sunburst" width="320" height="200" /></p> </div> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>UPDATE 13/9/17:</strong> Added DLM Math Fluency &ndash; Division Facts to the 'Math' folder. It seems to work fine, but you setup the disk for individual students for ongoing progress of their math learnings. Teacher utility included as well, but not tested to see if it's able to use the student data.</p> <p>Replaced Math Blaster Mystery with a fresh crack from Antoine (LoGo). It's better, as it now runs if you've booted from ProDOS 8 or GS/OS (4am's crack didn't work from ProDOS 8 for some reason) but this version doesn't quit back to GS/OS properly and hangs! Still, this is the better version so far.</p> <p><strong>UPDATE 18/2/18:</strong>&nbsp;Added another newly found Explore-a-Story title&nbsp;Where Did My Toothbrush Go? Thanks to Foone for coming across an original copy and 4am for a crack. I was able to get it working for hard drive by copying the 'Story.System' and 'Disk' files from Explore Australia, a previous hack done to those files by qkumba. Older Explore-a-Story title, Rosie the Counting Rabbit, didn't work when duplicating its 'Story.System' and 'Disk' files so there's a difference between older and newer titles in this series where hacks do and don't work. As always with Explore-a-Story titles, it's difficult to categorise them &ndash; I've placed this in Read.Write, for lack of anything better.</p> <p><strong>UPDATE 24/3/18:</strong>&nbsp;Dagen Brock reminded me of a curious site that I hadn't been to in a while:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.cvxmelody.net/AppleUsersGroupSydneyAppleIIDiskCollection.htm">www.cvxmelody.net/AppleUsersGroupSydneyAppleIIDiskCollection.htm</a>. It's a mysterious collection of unique disk images (this is where I found out about the amazing 8-bit Apple II Powerpoint usurper Scholastic Slide Show) and documented experiences and experimentations with Apple IIs and early Macs, but it now includes two titles I was very keen to archive Explore-a-Science Dinosaur Construction Kit and Explore-a-Story Quasar Kids. Using qkumba's previously modded files of Rosie the Counting Rabbit's 'Story.System', 'Disk' and 'Setup' files, replacing those within both of these titles allowed hard drive installation and successful opening of different 'stories' from a hard drive as well. Interesting that they used the older Rosie circumventions rather than the newer ones used for Explore Australia and more recent Learningway titles. Dinosaur Construction Kit is not quite as good as I imagined based on the Explore-a-Science Whales program, for which I rather loved how you could break down a whale's anatomy from skin, muscle, to bone, but Dinosaur Construction Kit offers a lot, however, you'd need to refer to what was included in the box to make the most out of it, similar to other Learning Ways titles. At first, it appears it only offers a 2 page presentation, but you need to access the iconic menu from the top left and corner and from the 5.25" disk icon, open the 'T REX' file for the main feature. Likewise, Quasar Kids has best context when loading the 'KIDS TEXT' file, which adds narration to the story. Really, it's a library set of graphics and animation that kids can use to create their own trippy space themed stories. These titles have been in the Science folder and Read.Write folder, respectively.</p> <p>Also on the cvxmelody site, I found another ProDOS 8 based program called&nbsp;Field Trip to the Rainforest, which includes nice double hi-res graphics and point and click interface, although it's not part of Learningways series. I tried piecing the three 5.25" together quickly, but unfortunately, although the program initially runs from a hard drive, it stops with an error when it can't locate the necessary data it expects from the 2nd and/or 3rd data disks. I've placed this program in a folder called 'Rainforest' in the 'Not.Working' folder. I hope someone can make it work from a hard drive &ndash; it looks like another of those ignored and under-appreciated double hi-res life sciences programs.</p> <p>There are no contact details on the cvx Melody site, but I left a message on one of their YouTube videos. I hope they get in touch.</p> <p><strong>UPDATE 20/6/18</strong>: <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/www.cvxmelody.net/AppleUsersGroupSydneyAppleIIDiskCollection.htm">CVXMelody</a>&nbsp;has since archived four more Explore-a-Story titles! We now have 5.25" disk images for&nbsp;Just Around The Block, The Bald-Headed Chicken, Not Too Messy, Not Too Neat &amp; The Best Bubble-Blower. However, The Bald-Headed Eagle and Not Too Messy, Not Too Neat I haven't been able to make hard drive installable, even after trying to copy the Story.System, Setup and Disk files from all of the other Explore titles, so I've placed them into the 'Not.Working' folder. Hopefully qkumba can check these out later on. Interestingly, CVXMelody ran each title through Passport and it reported that none of these had any copy protection. The hard drive happy titles Just Around the Block and the Best Bubble Blower are in the Read.Write folder (for lack of a better place).</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p class="image left" style="width: 320;"><img title="Robot Odyssey v2.0" src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/8-bit-Eduware/8BitEduCollection04.gif" alt="Robot Odyssey v2.0" width="320" height="200" /></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>UPDATE 13/1/19</strong>: Added qkumba's recent ProDOS update for Robot Oddyssey version 2.0. It's in the Math folder and works fine when run from System 6.</p> <p><strong>UPDATE 18/2/19</strong>: Randomly came across Muppet Math and it runs from ProDOS. Copying it to the Eduware volume, it works fine from System 6. It's in the /Math folder. Also added "MuppetAdventure" on the root directory, fixed the BASIC program to the new prefix to run in from the Eduware volume and folder its in, <span style="text-decoration: line-through;">but the game doesn't seem to work, but I've only tested it on Sweet 16 so far</span>. It works fine on a real ROM3 IIGS.</p> <p><strong>UPDATE 16/4/19</strong>: I love what my fellow Australian <a href="https://twitter.com/captaineos">Jeremy Barr-Hyde</a>&nbsp;turns up and archives (these days in the new Woz format) in regards to&nbsp;<a href="https://jbretro.wordpress.com/category/apple-ii-software-including-disk-images/">Apple II software</a>. Amongst the ProDOS based titles, he's archived Learningways Learn About Insects, which uses the Explore-a-Story engine (a later version that includes some nicer ways to interact with content faster) and lo and behold this 1991 title works on a hard drive without any modification! That's what I like to see! Also working is Science Explorers Skeletons by Scholastic (although this title doesn't work with the Sweet 16 emulator). Both have been placed in the Science folder. Also ProDOS based, Outback Explorers is Australia's answer to the Oregon Trail, although copying it to a hard drive, it asks for a physical disk location as soon as you start to play. I haven't had time (yet) to look any deeper to see if it can get working from a hard drive.</p> <p><strong>UPDATE 9/6/2019</strong>: Thanks to a new archive from Antoine, Rocky's Boots v4.1 replaces the older USO ProDOS conversion. This should be the last known version of the program officially released by the Learning Company. As such, it had hard drive support built-in.</p> <p><strong>UPDATE 14/7/2019:</strong> Antoine has made a disk image and cracked Magic Spells v2.3 (previously only v2.2 was on archive which is not HD installable). I've further hacked it using Learning Company's instructions on how to make it universally hard drive installable &ndash; the included installer with v2.3 only seems to work with SCSI drives. So Magic Spells now works from a hard drive, at last! This now covers all the official 3.5" disk releases for the Learning Company, however Reader Rabbit doesn't work properly (the sorter game can't find the required files) and Writer Rabbit did not get an official update that makes it hard drive installable, so we'll still need to fix those.</p> <p>I've also moved all non-working apps into the Not.Working folder &ndash; quite a few of the earlier apps I tried were still in their category folders.</p> <p><strong>UPDATE 7/6/2020:</strong>&nbsp;4am imaged and cracked previously unarchived Explore-a-Science titles Wolves and Animal Tracks. I've tried getting these to work from a hard drive using previously modified versions of the Story.system and Disk files from earlier mods from Explore-a-story or science titles, but these are not working for these titles, sadly, so I've moved them into the Not.Working folder, ready for when qkumba might be able to take a look at them after Total Replay v4 is complete.</p> Sat, 17 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/8-bit-eduware-on-32meg-disk-image/ IIGS Programs that AREN'T Hard Drive Installable – Can We Change That? http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/iigs-programs-that-aren-t-hard-drive-installable-can-we-change-that/ <p>Since the major success we've had thanks to Marco Verpelli and qkumba in patching so many ProDOS based 8-bit eduwares so they can run from a large ProDOS volume/hard drive, I'm putting the call out to anyone and everyone if they can help out with the IIGS specific titles that still refuse to run from a hard drive (at least, without the program asking for the 'original' disk being inserted in the 3.5" drive after launching, which defeats the purpose of running it entirely from a hard drive).</p> <p>Back in 2013 I had <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/some-classic-iigs-games-now-hard-drive-installable-plus-more-icons/">some success in making some games work on a hard drive</a>&nbsp;by changing the hard paths with a sector editor and setting up folders on a volume specifically named 'G' (for games) which allowed for a file path as short as possible to fit in within the number of characters in the original file paths of each game disk. This is about the maxiumum level of skill I have with sector editing, and there are plenty of games and other apps that did not succumb to my paltry efforts. I've listed programs below where I've attempted to change the hard path to no avail. Besides, if anyone can do this better, the programs can be copied to and fro between volumes easily &ndash; the hard path fix only works if it stays on a ProDOS volume called 'G' and if the folder it resides in remains the same name as well.</p> <p>I'm listing these titles by genre (Games, Apps, Eduware), and the more specific sub-genre and the 'low hanging fruit' first. Low hanging fruit means that a program already runs fine from System 6 and only requires a hard drive friendly patch. The next 'level' of difficulty is where a program requires a hard drive patch and also a patch to make System 6 compatible comes next. System 6 compatibility isn't a necessity (as the Taifun Boot volume I've setup can quickly enable you to boot into earlier versions of GS/OS and ProDOS 16) but all the same, it'd be ideal to have them running from System 6 as well). These are the programs requiring some attention:</p> <p><strong>GAMES</strong></p> <p><strong>Action</strong></p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/sea-strike/">Sea Strike</a>&nbsp;(Originally would not work from System 6, but Antoine / LoGo managed to fix that, but it's still not able to run from a hard drive &ndash; the program expects itself to be found in slot 5)</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/king-of-chicago/">King of Chicago</a>&nbsp;(An already hacked version runs from a hard drive and System 6, but it's too flakey to reliably play a whole game through &ndash; results in a hard crash eventually &ndash; needs revisiting)</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/marble-madness/">Marble Madness</a>&nbsp;(A ProDOS 8 based application, it doesn't run with System 6 or like running from a hard drive. Recommend using LoGo's more recent crack, which fixed the much older version archived that presented graphical glitches at the very end of the game.)</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/rocket-ranger/">Rocket Ranger</a>&nbsp;(Neither System 6 or hard drive installable (eventually displays an error 'Program disk must be booted')</p> <p><a title="Alien Mind" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/alien-mind/" target="_blank">Alien Mind</a>&nbsp;(I don't know how this custom bootloader could ever run from System 6, currently you can best run it as a single volume on a CFFA3000 or theoretically, a Floppy Emu (I haven't tried this yet) or any IIGS emulator thanks to the work <a href="https://ballmerpeak.org/alien_mind_part2/">Ballmer Peak made to make it ROM03 compatible and a single volume</a>&nbsp;from the French United Crackers Klan release).</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/gate/">GATE</a>&nbsp;(Again, with this custom operating system, I don't know that you could ever get this to run from System 6 and a hard drive. A treatment similar to that made for Alien Mind would be a welcome edition to combine both gameplay disks and the separate save game disk as a single archive)</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/space-shark/">Space Shark</a>&nbsp;(another custom booter, this time from the French United Crackers Klan themselves, aka Miami Software.</p> <p><strong>Adventure</strong></p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/dream-zone/">Dream Zone&nbsp;</a>(System 6 compatible. I've had a go at trying the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/DREAM.ZONE.TXT">specific HD install instuctions</a>&nbsp;with sector editing it for a few hours, but it didn't work. Anyone else want to give it a go? Needs to load and save games to a large ProDOS volume as well)</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/transylvania-iii/">Transylvania III</a>&nbsp;(ProDOS 8 based, not System 6 compatible. Loading and Saving games would also need to work from a large ProDOS volume)</p> <p><strong>Board Games</strong></p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/bridge-6-0/">Bridge 6.0</a>&nbsp;(not really System 6.0.1 compatible, and disk name of single character &lsquo;X'! Problem!)</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/chess-master-2100/">Chess Master 2100</a>&nbsp;(System 6 incompatible and doesn't seem to like being installed on a hard drive either. Only version 1.1 is archived &ndash; perhaps newer versions supported hard drive installation)</p> <p><strong>RPGs</strong></p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/war-in-middle-earth/">War in Middle Earth</a>&nbsp;(System 6.0.1 compatible. PROBLEM! Disk name is has two fewer characters to convert to the new path convention of /G/.. !!!)</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/ancient-land-of-ys/">Ancient Land of Ys</a>&nbsp;(System 6.0.1 compatible &ndash; I thought I'd found a hard drive installable version...problem is, it crashes when you go to save or resume a game! This version still currently resides on the Board and RPGs 32meg volume, but you could also refer to the two 800k disk images and start 'fresh' with this. I have found this <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/Ys_HD_Crack_n_HD_Install.txt">text document</a>, but its hard drive installation method requires hard path changes and you STILL need to have a save game disk specifically called 'USER' in slot 5, drive 1 or 2 to save and resume games.</p> <p><strong>Simulation</strong></p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/destroyer/">Destroyer</a>&nbsp;(System 6 incompatible. Changing hard path doesn't look like it's an option)</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/grand-prix-circuit/">Grand Prix Circuit</a>&nbsp;(System 6 INCOMPATIBLE changing hard path doesn't look like it's an option)</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/hostage/">Hostage</a>&nbsp;(changing hard path doesn't look like it's an option)</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/pirates-/">Pirates!</a>&nbsp;(changing hard path doesn't look like it's an option. I recommend using the Man of War crack as a base &ndash; it made the game ROM3 compatible and takes advantage of extra memory)</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/silent-service/">Silent Service</a>&nbsp;(changing hard path doesn't look like it's an option)</p> <p>Test Drive II (not System 6 compatible &ndash; only runs from ProDOS 16 v1.6).</p> <p><a title="Tomahawk" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/tomahawk/" target="_blank">Tomahawk</a></p> <p><a title="The Hunt for Red October" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/hunt-for-red-october-the/" target="_blank">The Hunt for Red October</a></p> <p><strong>Sports</strong></p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/4th-and-inches/">4th and Inches</a>&nbsp;(changing hard path doesn't look like it's an option)</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/gba-championship-basketball/">GBA Basketball</a>&nbsp;(uses BASIC to start! Weird. Updated Prefix but no joy)</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/hardball-/">Hardball</a>&nbsp;(changing hard path doesn't look like it's an option but found it uses &lsquo;*' wildcard -&nbsp;can these be kept when moving to another volume? Does the &lsquo;*' wildcard actually work?)</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/serve-and-volley/">Serve and Volley</a>&nbsp;(changing hard path doesn't look like it's an option)</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Education</strong></p> <p><strong>Reading and Writing</strong></p> <p>Most Orange Cherry Software titles work from a hard drive...but several do not (at least for the versions we have on archive): Talking First Writer, Talking Reading Railroad, Talking Speller I (II works fine from a hard drive!) and Talking USA Map.</p> <p>I was pleasantly surprised when I re-imaged my original disks for Talking Alpha Chimp, Talking Animals and Talking First Reader, that they all work from a hard drive now. It's possible I'd limited my previous testing to Sweet 16 for these titles when I had copied them to a hard drive image, but they run fine on a ROM01 IIGS with a CFFA3000.</p> <p>Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing &ndash; while the first disk can be copied and run from a hard drive, it will ALWAYS look for the data/user disk in slot 5, disk 1.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> Sat, 22 Jul 2017 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/iigs-programs-that-aren-t-hard-drive-installable-can-we-change-that/ Post KansasFest 2017 Miscellanea http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/post-kansasfest-2017-miscellanea/ <p>After KansasFest 2017, directly or completely unrelated, we've got quite a few updates thanks to a large pool of people.</p> <p>Antoine's submitted a bunch of interesting stuff, as usual ;-)</p> <p>We now have a manual scan for the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/super-expander-gs/">Price Busters Super Expander GS RAM card</a>. Antoine's also tracked down a previously elusive newer version of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/usa-geograph/">USA Geograph</a>, v1.2, which has now been added to the 2image archive for that title.</p> <p>Antoine's also found the rarer 3.5" disk version of <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/run-your-own-train/">Run Your Own Train</a>&nbsp;for all 64k compatible Apple II's. is it an application? Is it a game? The best way I'd describe it is as a simulation, but there's no real goal to play for. I decided it fitted better as a game, and that's where I've listed it. Speaking of other 8-bit on 3.5" disk games, Antoine's also provided a scan of the box for the underrated 8-bit Origin game <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/space-rogue/">Space Rogue</a>, (although there's not much of an advantage to the 3.5" hack, as 2 3.5" disks are required and the original release on 5.25" required 2 disks anyway!). If that wasn't enough, Antoine's also bought a boxed copy (and thanks to 4am as an intermediary) of <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/pow-zap-kerplunk-comic-book-maker/">Pow! Zap Kerplunk! Comic Book Maker</a>, which has revealed itself to be a newer version on archive (v1.2) and includes a sweet IIGS icon for the Finder (despite the title being strictly 8-bit). Last but not least, Antoine bought an original copy of the 8-bit <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/new-print-shop-the/">The New Print Shop</a>&nbsp;on 3.5" disk, which this archive previously held, but this version seems not to have included any copy protection and can be installed to a hard drive without asking for the disk to be left in the floppy drive! Result!</p> <p>Jeremy Barr-Hyde has sent in a scanned manual for v1.3 of <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/discquest/">discQuest</a>, which has been included to the v1.2 manual and other included info for that title. Jeremy's keen eyes also found <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/once-upon-a-time/">Once Upon a Time I</a>&nbsp;box, which he's scanned. Thanks Jeremy! Anyone got the alternate box for Once Upon a Time I and ANY scan of <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/once-upon-a-time-iii/">Once Upon a Time III</a>?</p> <p>The <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/pointless-v2-0/">Pointless</a>&nbsp;system extension for adding TrueType font usage on the IIGS now has a &lsquo;clean' installer thanks to Bill Scheffler. You can now register with your own name for the product.</p> <p>I realised I haven't included <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/hypercard-gs-1-1/">HyperCard IIGS</a>&nbsp;manuals that Arnaud Brossard provided when we swapped archives so many years ago!</p> <p>More updates to come...</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> Tue, 29 Aug 2017 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/post-kansasfest-2017-miscellanea/ 8-bit Database Apps! The Original Print Shop on 3.5" Disk As Well! http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/8-bit-database-apps-the-original-print-shop-on-3-5-disk-as-well/ <p>Thanks to me digging deep into some awesome CD-ROM based archives that Belgian basde Fran&ccedil;ois Michel (not to be confused with <a href="http://quartdepomme.fr/quartdepomme/Welcome.html">Fran&ccedil;ois Michaud</a>&nbsp;in France) sent to me way back in 2002, I've rediscovered some 8-bit 3.5" based application software that I still haven't seen anywhere else on archive.</p> <p>First up is the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/omnis-3-database-manager/">Omnis 3 Database Manager</a>. As Pascal format disk, this application provided a lot of features for the time of its release in 1983...and would you believe, is still being updated today? Check out the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/omnis-3-database-manager/">archive</a>&nbsp;for more info!</p> <p>Next up, is a nice Mousetext based and mouse controlled application called <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/profiler/">ProFILER</a>. Really nifty this one &ndash; behaves much like&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/mousewrite/">MouseWrite</a>, the excellent 8-bit word processor, but this is definitely an easy-to-use database...that's also hard drive installable.</p> <p>Last but not least on the database front, a newer version of <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/micro-cookbook/">Micro Cookbook</a>&nbsp;&ndash; this being v3.0.0. Quite an extensive and relatively easy to use database dedicated to storing your favourite recipes...and in a feature similar to today's iOS recipe managers, you can even generate shopping lists based on what recipes you plan to prepare for the week ahead!</p> <p>Also, a true rarity appeared on eBay not too long ago &ndash; an official 3.5" disk based version of the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/print-shop-the-2/">ORIGINAL Print Shop</a>&nbsp;(not to be confused with&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/new-print-shop-the/">The New Print Shop</a>, more commonly found on 3.5" disk). Alas, it slipped by the fingers of Antoine Vignau (he was attending KansasFest afterall). I put a call out to the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/5251478676/">Facebook Apple II Enthusiasts Group</a>&nbsp;if whoever bought it, could make an image to be archived and enjoyed by all. About a day or so later, it appeared on Asimov...but I can't believe the auction would have been shipped to the successful bidder. Thanks to the anonymous person who uploaded the 3.5" disk image for this, it is truely rare...but now ready to enjoy for anyone who would care to run it from any 3.5" disk drive enabled Apple II.</p> Tue, 12 Sep 2017 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/8-bit-database-apps-the-original-print-shop-on-3-5-disk-as-well/ Lost Apple IIGS Eduware Title Archived! Microtype, The Wonderful World of PAWS http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/lost-apple-iigs-eduware-title-archived-microtype-the-wonderful-world-of-paws/ <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/microtype-the-wonderful-world-of-paws/">Microtype, The Wonderful World of PAWS</a>&nbsp;has come as a complete surprise for a piece of IIGS specific educational software. I'd never heard of it until Antoine archived it, although I'd need to check through catalogues and listings to be sure. if I had ever come across it in the past I assumed it was vapourware as I never saw anything ever written about it.</p> <p>The details of Antoine's necessary crack to have it archived can be found <a href="http://www.hackzapple.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1233">here</a>. All of Antoine's cracks, for the Apple II and IIGS, can be found in the <a href="http://www.hackzapple.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=13&amp;sid=c09999b2a0f56ff149e6ec40a654b67e">Hackzapple forums</a>.</p> <p>Jeremy Barr-Hyde has submitted a scan for <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/once-upon-a-time-iii/">Once Upon a Time III</a>! Thanks bigtime for that! As always, What is the Apple IIGS? is very keen to&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/you-can-help/#box_scans">fill the gaps</a>&nbsp;in our box scan archives.</p> Sat, 02 Dec 2017 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/lost-apple-iigs-eduware-title-archived-microtype-the-wonderful-world-of-paws/ Diversi Tunes Music Library Overhauled http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/diversi-tunes-music-library-overhauled/ <p>With a discussion taking place on the specific <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/AppleIIGSEnthusiasts/">Apple IIGS Enthusiasts Group</a>&nbsp;on Facebook, Mitch Spector has taken it upon himself to provide a near full (only missing one disk) collection of music disks that Bill Basham sold to compliment his music program <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/diversi-tune-v1-1/">Diversi Tune</a>. Previously, this was incomplete and songs collected on fewer disks, but if you're wondering if all songs are now archived, you can compare it to the catalogue included with the Diversi Tunes package listing all data disks.</p> <p>Although previously archived, there's a disk dedicated to Christmas songs...which ties in well with this time of year ;-) Download it all by downloading the .zip file from the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/diversi-tune-v1-1/">Diversi Tune archive</a>.</p> Sat, 23 Dec 2017 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/diversi-tunes-music-library-overhauled/ Patentedly Tardy Christmas Presents Not Only Late, But Fewer As Well! Happy New Year! http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/patentedly-tardy-christmas-presents-not-only-late-but-fewer-as-well-happy-new-year/ <p>Merry Christmas!...for last year. Where does the time go? My family, so time well spent, but it just goes so fast.</p> <p>The first of my annual late Christmas gifts (now more tuncated than previous years) started with my love of arcade games which recently lead me to&nbsp;<a href="http://vgmrips.net">www.vgmrips.net</a>, but much to my surprise, there are also Apple IIGS game music rips as well! I've created a <a href="http://vgmrips.net/packs/playlist/252">dedicated playlist</a>&nbsp;using my account on the site that anyone can listen from within a modern web browser.</p> <p>At time of writing, these game soundtracks have been ripped from the IIGS:</p> <p>King's Quest I, II &amp; III<br />The Black Cauldron<br />Space Quest II<br />Arkanoid I &amp; II<br />Tetris</p> <p>From what I've been able to gather, the music is ripped while being emulated within MAME and whatever support it has for &lsquo;recording' audio.</p> <p>The resulting files are not straight audio recordings like mp3s, but rather the sequencing and instrument data has been collected and is emulated on the fly for playback. Alternatively, you can export tracks from vgmrips.net as mp3s for more &lsquo;traditional' music players.</p> <p>You can play the resulting vmg tracks from the site of course, but there are also desktop and smart phone players as well.</p> <p>I hope other IIGS audiophiles will use this emulation technology to record IIGS game soundtracks and other notable music and submit to vgmrips.net. It's inspiring to see so much great music recorded in this way for so many gaming and computer platforms out there.</p> <p>On relatively the same subject, Dagen Brock recently discovered a <a href="https://seancode.com/soundsmith/">SoundSmith player written in Javascript</a>&nbsp;that can also allow IIGS music to be heard via a modern web browser (Chrome and Firefox Quantum are up for the task, but Safari sadly doesn't want to play ball).</p> <p>The demo includes rips of music from the FTA demos Modulae, The Xmas Demo and a couple of other tracks. As a bonus, there's also an &lsquo;FTA Tracker'. Before the FTA moved onto SoundSmith as their tracker of choice, they were developing one themselves that they used for the Nucleus demo and the Photonix I &amp; II copy utilities.</p> <p>There's lots of documentation about the project and the source is all available on <a href="https://github.com/mrkite/soundsmith">github</a>.</p> <p>As part of my annual late patented Christmas gifts, it's time again to provide easy access to old news. These links will take you back, year by year, into past announcements and inclusions of content on What is the Apple IIGS? Happy exploring!</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2017">2017</a><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2016"></a></p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2016">2016</a><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2015"></a></p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2015">2015</a></p> <p><a title="2014" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2014" target="_blank">2014</a></p> <p><a title="2013" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2013" target="_blank">2013</a></p> <p><a title="2012" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2012" target="_blank">2012</a></p> <p><a title="2011" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2011" target="_blank">2011</a></p> <p><a title="2010" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2010" target="_blank">2010</a></p> <div><br /></div> Sun, 21 Jan 2018 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/patentedly-tardy-christmas-presents-not-only-late-but-fewer-as-well-happy-new-year/ Christmas Gifts #2 8-bit 3.5" Disk Based Educational Software Additions http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/christmas-gifts-2-8-bit-3-5-disk-based-educational-software-additions/ <p>We've got some new additions for <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/8-bit-educational-on-3-5-disk/">8-bit educational software on 3.5" disk</a>!</p> <p>Antoine has found several more titles -&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/little-shopper-s-kit-the/">Little Shopper's Kit</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/time-liner/">Time Liner</a>, both by Tom Snyder Productions, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/balance-in-nature-the/">The Balance in Nature</a>&nbsp;by Focus Media (complete with documentation) and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/dlm-math-fluency/">DLM Maths Fluency &ndash; Division Facts</a>&nbsp;by DLM.</p> <p>I was lucky enough to buy a boxed copy of <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/playroom-the/">The Playroom</a>&nbsp;locally in Melbourne, so I've added a box scan for that. I also found the front of the manual for <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/reading-writing-with-the-boars/">Reading &amp; Writing with Boars</a>&nbsp;was the box, so added a scan for that title as well.</p> Mon, 22 Jan 2018 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/christmas-gifts-2-8-bit-3-5-disk-based-educational-software-additions/ Clip Copy Plus Finder Extra Released http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/clip-copy-plus-finder-extra-released/ <p>Clip Copy Plus is a new Finder Extra that could just make your day!</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="image left" style="width: 373;"><img title="Finder Extra Dialogue" src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/News_Images/ClipCopyDialogue.gif" alt="Finder Extra Dialogue" width="373" height="302" /></div> <div class="image left" style="width: 373;"><br /></div> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Ever wished the System 6 Finder would let you use copy, cut and paste for file management in the same way that Windows has allowed for years, and that Apple finally caught onto with Mac OS X around 15 years ago? Well now you can! Chris Vavruksa has dusted off his archives of in progress development from 20 years ago and has completed this Finder Extra. You can download either a SHK or 2image archive, graciously hosted by Ewen Wannop over on his <a href="http://whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/clip-copy-plus-finder-extra-released">site</a>&nbsp;or you grab it from the 'Finder.Extras' folder of What is the Apple IIGS' <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/system-extensions-or-create-your-killer-gs-os-environment/">collection</a>&nbsp;of&nbsp;<img class="left" style="border: 0px initial initial;" title="null" src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/Uploads/_resampled/ResizedImage1515-icdisc.gif" alt="" hspace="null" vspace="null" width="15" height="15" align="null" />&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/System_Addons.zip">System Add-ons</a>.</p> Tue, 30 Jan 2018 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/clip-copy-plus-finder-extra-released/ And now...The Secret History of Mac Gaming http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/and-now-the-secret-history-of-mac-gaming/ <p>I backed a Kickstarter project last year &ndash; a book entitled '<a href="https://secrethistoryofmacgaming.com">The Secret History of Mac Gaming</a>'. I received the book about a month ago and completed reading it in the last week. It's a truly great book.</p> <p> <p class="image left" style="width: 640;"><img title="The Secret History of Mac Gaming" src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/News_Images/SecretHistoryOfMacGaming.jpg" alt="The Secret History of Mac Gaming" width="640" height="480" /></p> </p> <p>Although I grew up with an Apple IIGS, moving with the times, our family got a PowerMac 7100/AV in January 1995 and I've got to be honest and say I enjoyed gaming all over again on a fruity coloured logo stamped machine. It was a good time for Mac gaming &ndash; Lucas Arts were in full swing for their enhanced Mac game conversions (which featured better graphics than the MS-DOS originals) Mac shareware giants Ambrosia's catalogue was only widening, and Marathon 1 and 2 from Bungie software were simply a delight to play, taking advantage of the Mac in the first-person shooter realm.</p> <p>The good times didn't last however, as Apple found itself in some financial turmoil in 1996. All too soon it felt like I had to become a user and evangelist just as I had with the IIGS, but it's a period of my ongoing formative years with computers and The Secret History of Mac Gaming certainly evoked a lot of good memories of those days. Possibly the darkest looking days for Apple were the most fun in hindsight, as we rallied behind the cause of computing...differently.</p> <p>The book itself is almost entirely text based, which surprised me given the visual history approach I've always planned for the IIGS coffee table book (yes, I still hope to complete it, although my current thinking is it will be broken up into separate volumes now, as there's just too much content to include in a single tome). But author Richard Moss's interviews and concise prose deliver such a wonderful human side to every tale told on developing games on the Mac &ndash; stories quite like what we know on the Apple II and IIGS as well. The youthful energy, hopes and dreams of the early adopters of the Mac is palpable and I really felt great for their successes and sorrow for what would be almost inevitable failures as the Mac's fortunes as a gaming platform twisted and turned like a roller coaster.</p> <p>Relevant to the Apple II and IIGS, there are interviews with very notable people who developed for both platforms. Brian Greenstone, founder of <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/the-iigs-artwork-of-dave-triplett/">Pangea Software</a>&nbsp;is given a whole chapter and his past as a <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/xenocide/">games developer</a>&nbsp;on the IIGS is duely acknowledged. If you ever wondered what happened to him, his tale of struggling Mac game developer paid off when his Nanosaur game became bundled with the then new iMac in 1998 and then stratospherically rose again to undreamt of heights as a sole developer when Pangea's games were amongst the initial offerings on the App Store when it first launched in 2008 with the introduction of the iPhone 3G.</p> <p>The story of <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/crystal-quest/">Crystal Quest</a>, the first colour Mac game is fully traced, as are the origins of <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/shufflepuck-cafe/">Shufflepuck Cafe</a>. Rebecca Heineman's porting work on a slew of Mac games conversions is well covered (including games <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/wolfenstein-3d/">Wolfenstein 3D</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/out-of-this-world/">Out of This World</a>, which helped in getting IIGS versions made) and the stories of how the ICOM series of point and click adventure games (<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/deja-vu/">Deja Vu I</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/deja-vu-2/">II</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/uninvited/">Uninvited</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/shadowgate/">Shadowgate</a>) and seminal Mac favourite <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/dark-castle/">Dark Castle</a>&nbsp;were made, all games that got IIGS colour conversions, are great reads as well. Even Glenda Adams, who was the champion of Mac gamers everywhere for her ports of blockbluster PC games, is worth mentioning because it was only&nbsp;<a href="http://www.open-apple.net/2016/12/28/show-066-glenda-the-atom-adams-software-piracy/">recently discovered that she was an Apple II geek as well</a>, although in her earlier high school days, cracking games rather than writing them. And I was delighted to find out that Jason Jones, still the creative director at Bungie after Marathon, Myth, Halo and Destiny series, initially started his first game, Minotaur, on the Apple II (although it was completed on the Mac).</p> <p>I tip my hat to fellow Melbournite <a href="https://twitter.com/MossRC">Richard Moss</a>&nbsp;for delivering a wonderful historical account using almost only the readable word to convey so much. The design is minimal and doesn't take away from the engrossing text. Details of where to buy the book online and everything else can be found <a href="https://secrethistoryofmacgaming.com">here</a>. Also, be sure to give his podcasts <a href="http://ludiphilia.net">Ludophilia</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://lifeandtimes.games">The Life and Times of Video Games</a>&nbsp;a listen.</p> Fri, 30 Mar 2018 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/and-now-the-secret-history-of-mac-gaming/ Miscellany Menagerie http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/miscellany-menagerie/ <p>Apologies to everyone who's submitted new and interesting items to What is the Apple IIGS? and only now seeing them being included. No more delays &ndash; let's get down to it!</p> <p>Qkumba's been busy as always and has most recently created ProDOS compatible versions of classic 8-bit games Thief and Track and Field, as well as an uncompressed version of Prince of Persia, which includes all original Easter Eggs (an included a text file details how to reveal them) as well as the ability to hack the game engine or saved games. Find them all in the ProDOSHackGames folder and their relevant alphabetic folder on the&nbsp;<img class="left" style="border: 0px initial initial;" title="null" src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/Uploads/_resampled/ResizedImage1515-icdisc.gif" alt="" hspace="null" vspace="null" width="15" height="15" align="null" />&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/8-bit_Games.zip">8-bit Games</a>&nbsp;32meg disk image. Qkumba's also been going through the back catalogue of his ProDOS conversions and creating new versions that are compatible with the Apple II+. These newer versions will mean they're actually larger in file size, and I won't be updating the older versions on my <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/time-out-for-some-8-bit-fun-iigs-style/">8-bit games collection</a>, because they still work fine on the target platform here, the IIGS, as well as the IIe, IIc and IIc+.</p> <p>Bertrand Lee, owner of the <a href="http://www.cvxmelody.net/AppleUsersGroupSydneyAppleIIDiskCollection.htm">remarkable online diary rediscovering the Apple II</a>&nbsp;since 2015, has let me know he has a newer version of the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/harmonie-2-1/">Harmonie</a>&nbsp;printer driver collection &ndash; version 2.11b, includes 600x300 DPI support for HP DeskJet/DeskWriter plus new drivers for Apple StyleWriter (M8000), DeskJet/DeskWriter 520 &amp; 560. There's so much to explore on Bertrand's site, it's quite a journey!</p> <p>Frank Rossi wrote in to say he's found an interesting key press for the unofficial conversion of <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/plotting/">Plotting</a>, excellently done by Leclercq Philippe, aka 'Teaser'. Pressing the 'M' key will toggle between the music tracks without having to advance further in the game. Now, the music in the IIGS version of Plotting isn't the music from the arcade version &ndash; it's from <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/sensei/">Sensei</a>, the karate sparring game by Miami Beach Software. It's great music...but it's always sounded so wrong when playing Plotting to my ears. I've since found Amiga MODs that were ripped from that port of the game and the good news is &ndash; the instrument data for them is below 64k, making it easy to convert to SoundSmith or NinjaTracker format. However, I couldn't figure out how the existing music was included in the data for the original game &ndash; it looks like it was compressed together into a single data file, so I couldn't just swap out the existing tracks replacing them with these actual Plotting music tracks.</p> <p>But I've put together an additional disk with the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/plotting/">Plotting</a>&nbsp;disk image .zip that includes the original MODs and NinjaForce's MODConvert v2. The breakdown of the MOD tracks is this:plod.d.mod - short music played at the beginning of a level, although this MOD's tempo seems to be incorrect - it's slower than it should be.</p> <p>plot.f.mod - short music played after successfully completing a level (tempo seems correct)</p> <p>ploting.1.mod - this music isn't present in the arcade version.<br />ploting.2.mod - this music isn't present in the arcade version.<br />ploting.3.mod - this music isn't present in the arcade version.<br />ploting.4.mod - this music isn't present in the arcade version.</p> <p>ploting.5.mod - this is the standard music played during a level in the arcade version of Plotting. It should loop infinitly, until the level is over. When you're running out of time during a level, the music is sped up to emphasise the player needs to hurry before time runs out.</p> <p>None of the music is for the arcade versions of the High Score music or Game Over music.</p> <p>You can compare these MOD tracks with the original arcade soundtrack on <a href="http://vgmrips.net/packs/pack/plotting-l-system">VGMRips</a>.</p> <p>Frank's also done&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0clPYqmt4b8">some amazing amount of work</a>&nbsp;representing the IIGS on the Hyperspin front-end for emulators.</p> <p>For anyone who's used Iomega Zip drives with a SCSI card on a IIGS and wished you could change Zip disks without having to reboot, you MAY have a solution at hand after a conversation on the Apple IIGS Enthusiasts Group on Facebook came about. Possibly having the Tulin tape drive SCSI drivers installed MAY allow you to eject Zip disk volumes without a restart. Thanks to Antoine for finding these drivers amongst his collection. If they don't help with Zip drives, well, we've now got drivers for a Tulin tape backup drive! I've also put together Floptical drivers and a CDA that probably won't work for ejecting volumes of Zip drives. Anyway, it's now all on the&nbsp;<img class="left" style="border: 0px initial initial;" title="null" src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/Uploads/_resampled/ResizedImage1515-icdisc.gif" alt="" hspace="null" vspace="null" width="15" height="15" align="null" />&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/Hardware_Apps.zip">Hardware Apps</a>&nbsp;32meg volume.</p> <p>Bulletin Board Systems (BBSs) are gaining in in popularity again &ndash; it's a fun distraction from social media when we can remember the good old (more private?) days of online communication. Similar to what I <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/new-adventures-in-bbsing/">discovered</a>&nbsp;using the IIGS emulators KEGS/GSPort or GSPlus, you can now also access the world of BBSs via telnet with the new(ish) hardware device, the WiFi232, which you can plug into your modem port (with an DIN25 adapter) and use any terminal program that once used a modem to connect to servers. The WiFi232 interprets and converts old Hayes compatible commands so your old terminal programs are none-the-wiser about actually connecting via telnet rather than a direct connection over the phone line, modem to modem. Another alternative to accessing BBSs is using an <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/uthernet/">Uthernet I</a>&nbsp;or <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/uthernet-ii/">II</a>, or the even rarer <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/lancegs/">LANceGS</a>&nbsp;card, in tandem with Marinetti, the TCP/IP stack for the IIGS, along with <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/spectrum/">Spectrum</a>, you can relive the good old online days. You can explore BBSs quickly on the IIGS if your have one of the hardware options above with this self booting 32meg ProDOS volume I've put together that includes every communications app imaginable:&nbsp;<img class="left" style="border: 0px initial initial;" title="null" src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/Uploads/_resampled/ResizedImage1515-icdisc.gif" alt="" hspace="null" vspace="null" width="15" height="15" align="null" />&nbsp;<a title="Communication Apps" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/Communications.zip" target="_blank">Communication Apps</a></p> <p>But where to visit? Todd Holcomb wrote in to say he has a dedicated Apple II BBS which you can enjoy &ndash;&nbsp;Captain's Quarters BBS. It features Apple II and IIGS downloads, thousands of text files, online games including the popular Masters of Trivia, and forums. Access it via&nbsp;telnet://cqbbs.ddns.net:6502.</p> <p>There's also the <a href="https://www.telnetbbsguide.com">BBS Guide</a>. You'll find other Apple II dedicated BBSs, but also any BBS hosted by other computer platforms. I like to find the most impressive ANSI graphics based BBSs to really put&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/spectrum/">Spectrum</a>&nbsp;through its paces and to see the state of the art of online graphics up to the mid '90s.</p> Fri, 22 Jun 2018 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/miscellany-menagerie/ A Development Version Sword of Sodan is now Archived! It's playable, although bugs remain...on the IIGS...right now!!! http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/a-development-version-sword-of-sodan-is-now-archived-it-s-playable-although-bugs-remain-on-the-iigs-right-now/ <p>I was cautiously optimistic when Rich Walter posted in the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/AppleIIGSEnthusiasts/">Apple IIGS Enthusiasts group</a>&nbsp;on Facebook that he'd found the 3.5" disks that friend Jimmy Huey had in storage for over 20 years which contained a development version of Sword of Sodan for the IIGS...that was playable. Jimmy had the disks as Discovery Software gave him the option to complete the project when programmer Scott Patterson moved on from it, but Jimmy turned it down. It had sat in limbo ever since.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p class="image left" style="width: 320;"><img title="Storming the City Gates for the first time on the IIGS!" src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/Uploads/News-Images/Sword-of-Sodan03.gif" alt="Storming the City Gates for the first time on the IIGS!" width="320" height="200" /></p> <p class="image left" style="width: 320;">&nbsp;</p> <p class="image left" style="width: 320;">The disks were sent to John Keoni Morris, who I recommended to carefully image as working on his Applesauce device, a way of creating disk images including the copy protection itself, he's proven multiple times from testimonials across Apple II fandom that he's been able to image disks that no-one has been able to image before. The disks were sent via mail and we all held our collective breath. Would the disks still work after nearly 30 years? Would there be one sector error that prevented the game from being playable?!</p> <p>Thankfully, John was able to image the disks! As bad luck would have it (at least for everyone waiting to get their hands on the disk images), I'm out of town staying with friends, and haven't been checking social media or emails...until this evening. I've since sprang into action quickly looking at the disk images on my MacBookPro, emulating the IIGS with Sweet 16.</p> <p>I've only quickly checked the game in Sweet 16, and the game appears to work! I was amazed that the title screen even appeared with the same genie like affect that the Amiga version has &ndash; I really didn't expect that, as the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/sword-of-sodan-demo/">demo</a>&nbsp;we all drooled over never included it. The game does start, however, joystick emulation in Sweet 16 is...not great. Also, not having a numeric keypad, I can't play by keyboard control under emulation. But I've taken screen shots and John has said the game works...and is hard! It looks like you can choose to start from any level, which I don't believe was in the Amiga version, but it's been a while since I checked it out. It's likely this is a development feature to help debug the game.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p class="image left" style="width: 320;"><img title="Shardan kicking arse." src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/Uploads/News-Images/Sword-of-Sodan05.gif" alt="Shardan kicking arse." width="320" height="200" /></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>But enough reading this &ndash; you want to play it yourself, as every IIGS gamer has since 1989! Go to the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/sword-of-sodan/">Sword of Sodan archive</a>&nbsp;and download the disk images there. 1meg of RAM should be enough to play with. Thanks to Antoine Vignau for an old scan of the box of the Amiga version, although if anyone has the boxed Amiga version, I'd ask if someone else could scan it, that'd be great for a better quality scan. As well as the manual, which may help.</p> <p>The source code has yet to be found amongst Jimmy Huey's archives, but you can be sure Rich Walter and Jimmy will keep looking for it. More news as it comes!</p> <p>UPDATE: Antoine's already begun disassembling it and has already made a single volume version so it doesn't require any disk swapping. I've included this single volume with the .zip file containing the disk images. I've also included the demo disassembly Antoine did back in 2010, for which I took screen grabs from the Amiga version under emulation to fill in for the graphics that the code was asking for, but was missing.</p> <p>UPDATE 2: Matt Reichart seemed to be the first to play through the game and make notes of what works and what doesn't:</p> <p>The levels are:<br />0 - Outside the City Gate<br />1 - Between the City Walls<br />2 - In the City Streets<br />3 - In the Heart of the Forest<br />4 - In the Land of the Dead<br />5 - In the Foyer of Castle Craggamoor<br />6 - Descend the Stairs<br />7 - In a Passage Deep<br />8 - In the Catacombs<br />9 - In the Foyer of Castle Craggamoor (repeat of 5)<br />A - At the Wizards Tower</p> <p>The levels are in various states of completeness. I think 0, 1, 2, 4 and 6 are mostly complete (not a surprise that 2, 4, and 6 were seen in the demo). Level 8 is somewhat complete but is missing the large bird animal thing you have to ride and the water pit trap. Levels 3, 5, and 9 are empty but playable. Level A only has the first part of the boss and that doesn't display right. The second boss isn't even there.</p> <p>Speaking of broken, there are lots of bugs and issues. I had the game ask for a garbled disk number sometimes and crash. I also had it ask for disk 7 at one point! There are random sounds that play on levels 5 and 9. The foreground tree graphics in level 3 aren't right or are missing, and of course the last boss is all glitched up.</p> <p>UPDATE 3: I've played through the game quite a lot and after some practise, can quite comfortably play all the way to level 6 &ndash; Descend the Stairs. Although I've played the Mac version a bit in the past, I've got to say, playing it on the IIGS is awesome. Joystick control is very responsive and it really does feel like an arcade quality title that we all hoped for more of on the IIGS. Antoine's single disk image version makes play even more enjoyable, as with the CFFA3000, the game could only see the first two disks and the third had to be copied to a real 3.5" disk for play to continue.</p> <p>I do hope we can all somehow contribute to a fuller version of the game, but I fear without the source code, or raw artwork, this will likely not happen.</p> Sat, 26 May 2018 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/a-development-version-sword-of-sodan-is-now-archived-it-s-playable-although-bugs-remain-on-the-iigs-right-now/ Disk Image Updates http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/disk-image-updates/ <p>Qkumba's been busy with more ProDOS conversions of classic 8-bit games and I've included them, as I do all updates, on my <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/time-out-for-some-8-bit-fun-iigs-style/">collection of 8-bit games</a>&nbsp;on a 32meg ProDOS formatted disk image.</p> <p>With the release of Marinetti v3b9, which speeds things up greatly for TCP on the IIGS, I've updated my self booting Communications 32meg image with all hard drive installable comms apps that's useful for anyone with a&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/lancegs/">LANceGS</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/uthernet/">Uthernet I</a>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/uthernet-ii/">II</a>, or a&nbsp;WiFi232. I've also updated all of Speccie's TCP apps, along with the Undo Manager, which grants apps written for the new system extensions to have multiple levels of undo. Find the link to to this disk image at the end of this blog post about <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/new-adventures-in-bbsing/">BBSIng on the IIGS</a>&nbsp;in the 21st century.</p> Sat, 18 Aug 2018 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/disk-image-updates/ Welcome to 2019! And Updates Galore! http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/welcome-to-2019-and-updates-galore/ <p>It's been awhile between drinks! In fact, I missed my usual Christmas fanfare entirely. I've been changing career, skilling up to become a User Experience Designer and that hasn't been kind to the Apple II hobby.</p> <p>So it's time I caught up on what's been going on the last 3-5 months and summarising that for you long suffering readers!</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/word-perfect/">Word Perfect IIGS</a>&nbsp;is now Y2K compliant! <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/word-perfect/">The individual archive</a>&nbsp;has been updated with Antoine's v2.1b Y2K fix, as well as on the&nbsp;<a title="Productivity and Graphics" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/Productivity_and_Graphics.zip">Productivity &amp; Visual Creative</a>&nbsp;32meg volume.</p> <p>Antoine's been busier than that though. Got an Apple High Speed SCSI card and an Apple 300 series or greater CD-ROM drive? (I actually do!) Until Antoine fixed this, you couldn't control music playback with this combination, but now you can thanks to the SCSI-2 CD Driver. Details and individual archive <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/word-perfect/">available here</a>&nbsp;or you can download my&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/System_Addons.zip">System Add-ons</a>&nbsp;collection and find it in the "Drivers" folder.</p> <p>Something else you'll also find on the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/System_Addons.zip">System Add-ons</a>&nbsp;32meg disk image is Clip Copy Plus v1.1 from Chris Vavruska -&nbsp;updated with bug fixes for this useful Finder Extra that enables you to cut, copy and paste files and folders from window to window instead of having to drag them as Apple expects.</p> <p>Networker v2 from Ewen Wannop has been released. Based on the earlier version, this rewrite offers multiple utilities to give Marinetti a good work out -&nbsp;Ping, Lookup, Traceroute, Whois, Port Scan and Explorer. All details can be found at the <a href="https://speccie.uk/software/networker2/">program's dedicated page</a>. It's also been included on my self booting 32meg volume of&nbsp;<a title="Communication Apps" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/Communications.zip" target="_blank">Communication Apps</a>.</p> <p>Wrapping up the latest in IIGS software developements is a new programming concept for our Sweet 16 &ndash; <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MUMPS">MUMPS</a>.&nbsp;Tom Raidna has developed a an efficient interpretive way to code on the IIGS. Version 1.3 is currently in beta with version 2.0 planned with a full GUI. Tom's <a href="https://andiarsoftware.wordpress.com">providing lots of info to work with</a>, even insightful video tutorials, to get you up to speed. I've included a <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/mumps/">new archive</a>&nbsp;in the Shareware Apps section on WITA2GS? for MUMPS, but you'll find more resources at&nbsp;<a href="https://andiarsoftware.wordpress.com">Andiar Software</a>.</p> <p>If you've been looking for the ultimate solution to output video from your IIGS to a modern 16:9 aspect ratio HDMI monitor or TV then the VidHD is for you. There's no product dedicated website to get it, but you can see how well the output of the card is from <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqGB5ajfsEQ&amp;list=PLCi1-AJ1FmQ0fDisqPvc1cU-tlsymAHV1">this playlist of videos</a>&nbsp;that co-creator John Brooks has produced. More details can be found in the first and second video's description - including how to buy one. The card has been well received, but there have been issues especially affecting non-16:9 displays, but the first firmware update has fixed these issues.</p> <p>The&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/rampro/">RAMPro IIGS</a>&nbsp;manual and other details are now available thanks to Tim Buchheim (and thanks to Daryl "Aunty Entity" for creating his own in lieu of the definite article showing up).</p> <p>Antoine's also been able to provide packaging scans for <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/stickybear-math/">Stickybear Math</a>&nbsp;(8-bit), <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/word-master/">Word Master</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/aesop-s-fables/">Aesop's Fables</a>&nbsp;(along with scanning the manuals for these two Unicorn Software titles), as well as the interesting <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/color-plus/">Color+</a>&nbsp;paint program.</p> <p>Qkumba continues to do great work converting classic 8-bit games to run under ProDOS (and in most cases, GS/OS). My second favourite 8-bit game ever (after <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/airheart-best-of-apple-ii-volume/">Airheart</a>), is Captain Goodnight and I'm delighted it can be played from mass storage. You can quit the game after losing by visiting the high scores. Qkumba's also removed the need for the decoder wheel &ndash; there's now no message when you reach the submarine giving you the info you need to decode for when you reach the Doomsday Device at the end. It's still a smoking hot challenge to get that far though!</p> <p>Also of note is the inclusion of the Quicksilver ports of mid to late &lsquo;80s arcade games. They were definitely stretching the limits of the 8-bit Apple II in trying to resemble the fast animation and gameplay of the originals, but some of their later efforts made the most of double hi-res graphics for maximum affect. These games include Bad Dudes, Ikari Warriors, Ikari Warriors II: Victory Road, Commando, Heavy Barrel, Platoon, Batman, Kid Niki and Robocop.</p> <p>Other games include: Picnic Paranoia, Genetic Drift, Quadrant 6112,&nbsp;Russki duck, Will Harvey's Lancaster, Lost Tomb, Alien Typhoon, Eggs It, Zenith, Hadron, Phaser Fire, Portal, Tunnel Terror and Photar.</p> <p>All of these updates can be found on my self booting 32meg&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/8-bit_Games.zip">8-bit Games</a>&nbsp;volume of classic games.</p> <p>The last tradition is that it's time again to provide easy access to old news. These links will take you back, year by year, into past announcements and inclusions of content on What is the Apple IIGS? Happy exploring!</p> <p><a title="2018" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2018" target="_blank">2018</a></p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2017">2017</a><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2016"></a></p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2016">2016</a><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2015"></a></p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2015">2015</a></p> <p><a title="2014" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2014" target="_blank">2014</a></p> <p><a title="2013" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2013" target="_blank">2013</a></p> <p><a title="2012" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2012" target="_blank">2012</a></p> <p><a title="2011" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2011" target="_blank">2011</a></p> <p><a title="2010" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2010" target="_blank">2010</a></p> Sun, 03 Mar 2019 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/welcome-to-2019-and-updates-galore/ Updates and the Current State of Solid State Storage http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/updates-and-the-current-state-of-solid-state-storage/ <p>Following on the last series of updates, Antoine's now been able to scan the tricky manual for <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/color-plus/">Color+</a>, one of those ones that goes recto/verso when you disassemble it and have to reassemble it in the right page order once scanned. Additionally, Antoine's been able to crack <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/word-master/">The Word Master</a>, although the hard drive installation patch will take a bit more work. Thanks as always to Antoine for his incredible diligence for archiving IIGS stuff!</p> <p>Chris Morrison has <a href="https://vintagegeek.wordpress.com/2018/12/28/microdrive-turbo-rebuild-partitions-and-ciderpress/">let me know</a>&nbsp;(<a href="https://vintagegeek.wordpress.com/2018/12/22/microdrive-turbo-cf-card-rebuild-for-iigs/">some time ago</a>) that some of my 32meg disk images (available at the bottom of <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/home/">the home page</a>) show up with different file sizes &ndash; 32,768k and 32,769k as they appear in Windows. Images that are 32,769k can't be loaded onto previously formatted 32meg ProDOS partitions for use with the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/microdrive-ide-turbo/">MicroDrive Turbo</a>&nbsp;(or CFFA1, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/cffa/">CFFA2</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/focus/">Focus</a>, etc.) when using the Windows Apple II volume and file utility <a href="https://a2ciderpress.com">CiderPress</a>. I don't know how some images ever became 32,769k, and as Chris noted, it's never been a problem using them with the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/cffa300/">CFFA3000</a>&nbsp;and emulators, but I've recently been setting up a <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/microdrive-ide-turbo/">MicroDrive Turbo</a>&nbsp;for a friend's IIGS setup (and in the process added the driver disk and manual to the archive entry here on WITA2GS?), and came across this very issue &ndash; it's frustrating. So, I've fixed all the 32 meg images (available from the homepage) &ndash; so now no-one should have any problems loading these images onto 32meg ProDOS partitions on compact flash cards.</p> <p>However, I've come across another weird problem with the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/microdrive-ide-turbo/">MicroDrive Turbo</a>&nbsp;&ndash; some (but not all) ProDOS 8 based IIGS games (<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/rastan/">Rastan</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/task-force/">Task Force</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/pipe-dream/">Pipe Dream</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/battle-chess/">Battle Chess</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/neuromancer/">Neuromancer</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/gnarly-golf/">Gnarly Golf</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/zany-golf/">Zany Golf</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/john-elway-s-quarterback/">John Elway's Quarterback</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/bard-s-tale-i-tales-of-the-unknown-the/">Bard's Tale I</a>&nbsp;&amp; <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/bard-s-tale-ii-the-destiny-knight-the/">II</a>&nbsp;(the original IIGS versions) fail to run from a&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/microdrive-ide-turbo/">MicroDrive Turbo</a>. But <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/tass-times-in-tonetown/">Tass Times in Tonetown</a>&nbsp;and Antoine's crack and hard drive installable versions of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/gauntlet/">Gauntlet</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/paperboy/">Paperboy</a>, all ProDOS 8 based, work. The problem presents itself in GS/OS with it asking to insert the disk it's actually currently on, but can't seem to find the data it's looking for even though it IS "inserted". The same happens if you boot directly to ProDOS 8. From my personal testing, this behaviour is not present on a&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/cffa/">CFFA2</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/cffa300/">CFFA3000</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/apple-high-speed-scsi-card/">Apple High Speed SCSI card</a>&nbsp;with SCSI2SD or even a 40meg Vulcan hard drive, so the issue lies firmly with&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/microdrive-ide-turbo/">MicroDrive Turbo</a>. Anyone with a bit more tech know-how want to look into this issue to see what the common cause is?</p> <p>This also relates to a weird issue found with playing the IIGS version of the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/black-cauldron/">Black Cauldron</a>&nbsp;with a <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/floppyemu/">FloppyEmu</a>. After the game asks for disk 2, ejecting the disk image on the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bigmessowires.com/floppy-emu/">FloppyEmu</a>&nbsp;and replacing it with the disk image for the second volume, the program can't seem to see the change and won't continue loading. However, the same disk images run fine from real 3.5" floppy disks, as well as a&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/cffa300/">CFFA3000</a>. You can also combine the contents of both disks to run it from a "traditional" hard drive without issue as well.</p> <p>The bottom line is that while all these solid state solutions are great, not one product seems to offer 100% compatibility with IIGS software. Even my preferred&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/cffa300/">CFFA3000</a>&nbsp;can't boot custom operating systems (like FTA demos) for which bootloaders depend on the IWM chip on the IIGS that can only be accessed by the floppy port. The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bigmessowires.com/floppy-emu/">FloppyEmu</a>&nbsp;CAN load custom bootloaders however, because it's directly connected to the floppy port.</p> <p>No one solution is perfect &ndash; but the perfect solution would be something like the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/cffa300/">CFFA3000</a>, which enables you to mount and hot swap between disk images with a well designed control panel, but at DMA speeds and full compatibility with the IWM. And something like SCSI that handles I/O so you can take the heat off the processor, which as everyone knows is slow enough as it is! Hope someone's up for the task of creating the ultimate solid state solution for slot based Apple IIs!</p> Sun, 17 Mar 2019 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/updates-and-the-current-state-of-solid-state-storage/ Pelican / Toucan 8-bit Creative Titles Now With Documentation http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/pelican-toucan-8-bit-creative-titles-now-with-documentation/ <p>A couple of years ago Antoine and 4am nailed archiving a sub-genre of creative 8-bit software released by <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/pelican-toucan-software-collection-published-by-queue/">Pelican Software and later handled by Toucan software</a>. I've also collated these titles onto one of <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/8-bit-eduware-on-32meg-disk-image/">two separate 32meg volumes</a>&nbsp;in an attempt to get as much 8-bit educational software running from Apple II mass storage solutions.</p> <p>Now Antoine's caught up with scanning all of the documentation for these titles!</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/alice-in-wonderland-and-the-wizard-of-oz/">Alice in Wonderland and the Wizard of Oz</a>&nbsp;(1992-Queue) v1.4</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/animals-with-an-attitude/">Animals with an Attitude</a>&nbsp;(1992-Queue) v1.4</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/beauty-and-the-beast-and-the-little-mermaid/">Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid</a>&nbsp;(1992-Queue) v1.4</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/big-book-maker-cute-and-cuddly/">Big Book Maker - Cute and Cuddly</a>&nbsp;(1992-Queue) v?</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/big-book-maker-favorite-fairy-tales-and-nursery-rhymes/">Big Book Maker - Favorite Fairy Tales and Nursery Rhymes</a>&nbsp;(1990-Pelican Software) v?</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/alice-in-wonderland-and-the-wizard-of-oz/">Alice in Wonderland and the Wizard of Oz</a>&nbsp;(1992-Queue) v1.4</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/animals-with-an-attitude/">Animals with an Attitude</a>&nbsp;(1992-Queue) v1.4</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/beauty-and-the-beast-and-the-little-mermaid/">Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid</a>&nbsp;(1992-Queue) v1.4</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/big-book-maker-cute-and-cuddly/">Big Book Maker - Cute and Cuddly</a>&nbsp;(1992-Queue) v?</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/big-book-maker-favorite-fairy-tales-and-nursery-rhymes/">Big Book Maker - Favorite Fairy Tales and Nursery Rhymes</a>&nbsp;(1990-Pelican Software) v?</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/big-book-maker-feel-good-about-yourself/">Big Book Maker - Feel Good About Yourself</a>&nbsp;(1992-Pelican Software)</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/big-book-maker-let-s-pretend/">Big Book Maker - Let's Pretend</a>&nbsp;(1992-Queue)</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/big-book-maker-letters-numbers-shapes/">Big Book Maker - Letters, Numbers, Shapes</a>&nbsp;(1992-Pelican Software)</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/big-book-maker-myths-and-legends/">Big Book Maker - Myths and Legends</a>&nbsp;(1992-Queue)</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/big-book-maker-quentin/">Big Book Maker - Quentin</a>&nbsp;(1992-Queue)</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/big-book-maker-tall-tales-and-american-folk-heroes/">Big Book Maker - Tall Tales and American Folk Heroes</a>&nbsp;(1992-Queue)</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/big-book-maker-the-rain-forest/">Big Book Maker - The Rain Forest</a>&nbsp;(1993-Queue)</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/dinosaur-days-plus/">Dinosaur Days Plus</a>&nbsp;(1988-Pelican Software)</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/robin-hood-and-peter-pan/">Robin Hood and Peter Pan</a>&nbsp;(1992-Queue)</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/robot-writer-plus/">Robot Writer Plus</a>&nbsp;(1988-Pellican Software)</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/big-book-maker-the-three-princesses/">Big Book Maker - The Three Princesses</a>&nbsp;(1992-Queue)</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/transportation-transformation/">Transportation Transformation</a>&nbsp;(1991-Pelican Software)</p> <p>Thanks again Antoine!</p> Sun, 21 Apr 2019 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/pelican-toucan-8-bit-creative-titles-now-with-documentation/ How to copy 32meg Disk Images to a Compact Flash card? Watch and Learn! http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/how-to-copy-32meg-disk-images-to-a-compact-flash-card-watch-and-learn/ <p>I've created <a href="https://vimeo.com/332914596">this video</a>&nbsp;to help anyone and everyone with a&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/microdrive-ide-turbo/">Micro Drive Turbo</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/microdrive-ide/">Micro Drive</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/cffa/">CFFA1 &amp; 2</a>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/focus/">Focus</a>&nbsp;drive controller in getting What is the Apple IIGS? 32meg disk images over to preformatted 32meg ProDOS partitions on CF cards cards &ndash; the quickest way you can be up and running with as much hard drive installable software as possible.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="image left" style="width: 540;"> <p><br /><a title="CiderPress in action" href="https://vimeo.com/332914596" target="_blank"><img title="CiderPress in action" src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/News_Images/_resampled/ResizedImage500374-CiderPress.jpg" alt="CiderPress in action" width="500" height="374" /></a><br /><br /><br />The video is basically demonstrating replacing the contents of the second partition with the newer contents of the disk image. The second part of the video shows you how from a ProDOS partition on the CF card, you can create a disk image from it.</p> <p>This was done on a 2014 MacBook Pro running macOS 10.13.6 with VMWare Fusion 8.5.10 (which is rather old) running Windows XP and CiderPress v4.0.1 as the necessary utility with an external USB based compact flash card reader device (a generic cheap one - QPix All-in-1 Card Reader). This DOES NOT work if you're using the WINE bottled version of CiderPress. You have to run it in a VM, or boot from BootCamp. Of course, if you're running Windows natively, it'll work for that too, but you'd want to be running a more secure versionthan XP ;-)</p> </div> <p>This method is NOT necessary for a <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/cffa300/">CFFA3000</a>&nbsp;- you simply copy the disk images to CF or USB storage and mount them on the fly on the IIGS via the CFFA3K control panel.</p> Mon, 10 Jun 2019 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/how-to-copy-32meg-disk-images-to-a-compact-flash-card-watch-and-learn/ Sifting Through Applesauce to Find Little Golden Nuggets http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/sifting-through-applesauce-to-find-little-golden-nuggets/ <p>If you haven't heard about John Keoni Morris's&nbsp;<a href="https://applesaucefdc.com">Applesauce</a>&nbsp;yet, well, it's THE best way to create disk images. Why? It records a disk image at the magnetic flux level. To cut a long story short, this means you can create disk images (in the new .woz format) that include the original copy protection, but the program is none-the-wiser it's a copy because it's utterly perfect. Some emulators, like Virtual ][ and Open Emulator, support the new .woz format, and some hardware does too &ndash; the <a href="https://www.bigmessowires.com/floppy-emu/">FloppyEmu</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://kboohk.com/cart/index.php?route=product/product&amp;product_id=55">WDrive</a>&nbsp;do (alas the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/cffa300/">CFFA3000</a>&nbsp;does not and is unlikely to).</p> <p>The Applesauce is a <a href="https://applesaucefdc.com/hardware/">hardware solution</a>&nbsp;that plugs into your Mac (currently, the software is Mac only) and you plug your 5.25" or 3.5" disk drives into that device. You'll need to fit a sync sensor to your classic drives to record flux level detail when imaging disks. Using the <a href="https://applesaucefdc.com/software/">Applesauce software</a>&nbsp;(which is really fun to play with with the resulting .a2r and .woz files even if you don't have the hardware like me), you then specially make these disk images.</p> <p>Antoine Vignau, being a renaissance man, has scanned a <a href="https://archive.org/details/Antoine_Vignau_3.5_Floppies_Flux_May_2019_Batch">rather large collection of 3.5" disks</a>&nbsp;for both the IIGS and 8-bit Apple II software since the format has been in developement for support in Applesauce. His efforts can be downloaded from the Internet Archive as the raw .a2r files from the Applesauce. Using the&nbsp;<a href="https://applesaucefdc.com/software/">Applesauce software</a>&nbsp;myself however, I've been able to convert them to 2images for general use. This means that anything copy protected won't work, but I've found some great little nuggets sifting through this collection that haven't been widely archived before.</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/notes-n-files/">Notes 'n Files</a>&nbsp;v1.3 (I have NO IDEA what's changed in the newer version apart from the About dialogue) and a demo of version 1.0 (although the demo looks like it's copy protected!) has been found, with only v1.0 having been archived before.</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/softwood-gsfile/">Softwood GS File</a>&nbsp;now has a v1.0 demo version attached to it, in French no less! Note that it doesn't work with the Sweet 16 emulator, just like the original v1.0 full version.</p> <p>I also played with new images of <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/art-and-film-director/">Art and Film Director</a>, the animation software from Epyx. Alas, nothing seems to be different from what's on archive, but it did make me think to try of moving its folder on the&nbsp;<img class="left" style="border: 0px initial initial;" title="null" src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/Uploads/_resampled/ResizedImage1515-icdisc.gif" alt="" hspace="null" vspace="null" width="15" height="15" align="null" />&nbsp;<a title="Productivity and Graphics" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/Productivity_and_Graphics.zip">Productivity &amp; Visual Creative</a>&nbsp;32meg volume to the root directory as a possible fix for the Film Director component not running from a hard drive...and it now works! That and the newer version of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/notes-n-files/">Notes 'n Files</a>&nbsp;is now available on this volume.</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/salvation-supreme/">Salvation Supreme v2.0</a>&nbsp;came as a surprise &ndash;&nbsp;The core apps for virus checking, storage repair and optimisation are the same versions, however, the Bakkup app is now at v2.0 and supports back-ups to tape drives. Additionally, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/wings/">Wings</a>, the Finder launcher alternative previously released as its own stand alone package, has been updated for System 6.0 with the Supreme bundle, previously it was incompatible with it. So another particularly nice find!</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/graphic-writer-iii/">Graphic Writer</a>&nbsp;v2.0 has been found and archived. Not to be confused with Graphic Writer III v1.0 and v1.1, this is the version inbetween, still maintained by its original author, Gary Crandall, before Seven Hills took over distibuting the product.</p> <p>Rocky's Boots v4.1, the well known and respected Learning Company eduware has been archived and this may be the last version ever produced. Amazingly, it didn't include any copy protection and works from a hard drive without any modification. So I've included that on my&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/8-bit-eduware-on-32meg-disk-image/">8-bit Eduware 32meg disk image</a>.</p> <p>And for classic <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/appleworks/">AppleWorks</a>&nbsp;fans, I've found these utilities for AppleWorks 4 and 5:&nbsp;Grids+, One Touch Commands for AppleWorks 5 and WaitLess Print Buffer for AppleWorks 4 have been added to the classic Appleworks .zip archive - now a whopping 19.2meg including everything I've been able to find relevant to the venerable productivity software suite.</p> <p>Hopefully this will be the start of people being able to archive II and IIGS software that can be passed on to those that can crack it, without having to send the original 3.5" and 5.25" floppy disks. There will be more to come.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> Mon, 17 Jun 2019 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/sifting-through-applesauce-to-find-little-golden-nuggets/ Goodies Before KansasFest http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/goodies-before-kansasfest/ <p>All eyes will soon be turned to <a href="https://www.kansasfest.org">KansasFest</a>&nbsp;once again to find out what everyone's been doing with their Apple II's since last year's biggest get-together of all things related to Apple's first line of computers.</p> <p>But before July 16, there are a couple of awesome things to play with on the IIGS thanks to Ewen Wannop and Chris Vavruksa.</p> <p>Ewen's added yet another feature of modern operating systems to the IIGS &ndash; a version check and download application. Yes! All of his communications programs can now be updated by <a href="https://speccie.uk/software/versions/">Versions</a>&nbsp;semi automatically when any of Ewen's popular suite of internet applications for email, usenet or FTP are updated, or Ewens utility apps as well (Breakdown disassembler, Chewbagger sector editor, Phoenix file recovery, etc). You'll need to use Marinietti and an appropriate hardware solution (<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/uthernet/">Uthernet I</a>&nbsp;or <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/uthernet-ii/">II</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/lancegs/">LANceGS</a>) to connect to the internet to make it happen (which is what modern OS require for this feature as well). Ewen's extended the offer to any and all developers on the IIGS who'd like to provide their software via Versions to keep everyone up-to-date easily.</p> <p>Chris Vavruksa's most recent entry into the utility scene is&nbsp;<a href="https://speccie.uk/software/gsummer/">GSummer</a>, a New Desk Accessory that does file checksums to maintain data integrity. Could be useful to track down those lingering bugs with the HFS File System Translator (FST) that still seems to affect large volumes using that Mac's volume format method with GS/OS System 6.</p> <p>For the&nbsp;<img class="left" style="border: 0px initial initial;" title="null" src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/Uploads/_resampled/ResizedImage1515-icdisc.gif" alt="" hspace="null" vspace="null" width="15" height="15" align="null" />&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/System_Addons.zip">System Add-ons</a>&nbsp;volume, I've included The TypeChanger Finder Extra, which enables file type changes for multiple files at once. It can be found in The Finder.Extras folder.</p> <p>But the best is yet to come: SysFont v2.1 NDA, which allows you to change fonts within dialogues and pull down menus separately across all or specific GS/OS apps &ndash;&nbsp;a godsend for providing something other than Shaston! It seems a LOT more stable than Dave Leffler's MenuMaster v1.1 NDA in doing the same thing. I've also added my updated version of the Smallville.8 font that can be a complete replacement for Shaston if you want -&nbsp;it even supports all the extended characters used like Apple logos, bullets, accented characters, mathematical symbols, you name it. It can be found in the NDAs/GUI.NDAs/SysFont folder. Enjoy this excellent customisation to System 6.0.x.</p> <p>The documentation for each is in Japanese, so excuse the odd jumble of characters, but these programs are easy to use with a little experimentation. Both were created by Keiichi Urabe, who sadly passed away some years ago. I hope his work can be further appreciated outside of the Japanese Conversion Kit for System 6 (something I need to include in the System 6 archive).</p> Sat, 06 Jul 2019 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/goodies-before-kansasfest/ KansasFest 2019 Roundup http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/kansasfest-2019-roundup/ <p>IIGS and gaming related KansasFest 2019 highlights. Let's go!</p> <p><a href="http://www.apple2.org/marinetti/">Marinetti v3.0b11</a>, the TCP/IP stack of the IIGS, is available thanks to Andrew Roughan as an update from a ShrinkIt archive. Simply overwrite your old System.Setup file with b11 and reboot. Voila! Bug fixes and speed improvements, huzzah!</p> <p><a href="https://sheumann.github.io/NetDisk/">NetDisk and DiskBrowser</a>&nbsp;has been released to compliment the updated Marinetti. With this, you can mount disk images (ProDOS order, 2image, Disk Copy v4.2) over the internet and use them within GS/OS (but not ProDOS 8). The Disk Browser part will let you directly connect with the Internet Archive to mount disk images there. Pretty sweet! Thanks be to Stephen Heumann. Be sure to check out his other awesome Marinetti apps if you've got an ethernet card for your IIGS -&nbsp;AFPBridge (which lets you connect to AppleTalk servers for file access) and VNCviewGS (which lets you connect to and control PCs and Macs if they have VNC enabled).</p> <p>I've updated everything through Versions on my&nbsp;<img class="left" style="border: 0px initial initial;" title="null" src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/Uploads/_resampled/ResizedImage1515-icdisc.gif" alt="" hspace="null" vspace="null" width="15" height="15" align="null" />&nbsp;<a title="Communication Apps" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/Communications.zip" target="_blank">Communication Apps</a>&nbsp;32meg volume with the very latest from Ewen Wannop, Chris Vavruksa and Stephen Heumann. Enjoy 21st century comms ability with the IIGS and an Uthernet I or II card.</p> <p>Jesse Blue of <a href="http://www.ninjaforce.com/html/news.html">Ninja Force</a>&nbsp;was at the <a href="https://nordlicht.demoparty.info">Nordlicht 2019 demo party</a>&nbsp;to release the <a href="https://demozoo.org/productions/230561/">Shoddy Demo</a>, with help from Dagen Brock. Shoddy is the new black, thanks to time pressures! Enjoy new visuals and tunes on the IIGS!</p> <p>Burger Becky is to work on a IIGS specific version of <a href="https://www.6502workshop.com/p/nox-archaist.html">Nox Archaist</a>! Project lead Mark Lemmert has only confirmed that a boxed, IIGS version will be released after the initial Apple II, PC and Mac versions have shipped! This is exciting news for IIGS players wanting to make the most out of machines.</p> <p>qkumba had time over KFest to do a whole heap of new ProDOS conversions:</p> <p>Free Fall, Hyper Head, Beyond Castle Wolfenstein, Star Thief, Star Blaster, Asteroid Blaster, The Spy Strikes Back, Seafox, Aztec, The Bilestoad, Laser Bounce, Labyrinth, Kamikaze, Frogger II, Cubit, Horizon V, Galaxy Gates, Black Magic (The Apple II's answer to Ghosts 'n Goblins), Xevious, Ballblazer, Roadblock, BC's Quest for Tires (redo), Zaxxon, Alien Typhoon (redo).</p> <p>and I've included them on my <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/time-out-for-some-8-bit-fun-iigs-style/">32meg archive of classic 8-bit games</a>.</p> <p>But the best to classic gaming is yet to come: qkumba and 4am's year long project <a href="https://archive.org/details/TotalReplay">Total Replay</a>&nbsp;includes all ProDOS conversions up until KansasFest 2019 with an awesome program selector with attract mode including screen shots and game play demos &ndash; a great screen saver! Boot and play 203 classic Apple II games without swapping a disk! On any Apple II with 64k of memory and support for 32meg ProDOS partitions (if you've got a MicroDrive Turbo, CFFA 1 or 2 or Focus Drive, you can quickly copy the 32meg disk image to a 32meg ProDOS partition like <a href="https://vimeo.com/332914596">this</a>.</p> <div><br /></div> Fri, 26 Jul 2019 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/kansasfest-2019-roundup/ Music Studio Bonanza! http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/music-studio-bonanza/ <p>Petar Puskarich has recently found his copy of the previously unarchived v2.0.1 update for the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/music-studio-v2-0/">Music Studio 2.0</a>. Addtionally, Petar remembered how to install and successfully run the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/music-studio-v2-0/">Music Studio</a>&nbsp;from a hard drive - include the "Waves" folder on the root directory of the volume it'll be run from. The Waves are the 64k collection of instrument data to fill the Ensonq DOC RAM.</p> <p>I've installed it to the&nbsp;<img class="left" style="border: 0px initial initial;" title="null" src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/Uploads/_resampled/ResizedImage1515-icdisc.gif" alt="" hspace="null" vspace="null" width="15" height="15" align="null" />&nbsp;<a title="Audio and Utilities" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/Audio_and_Utilities.zip">Utilities &amp; Aural Creative</a>&nbsp;volume, in the Creative.Aural folder.</p> <p>Another tip that Petar has for getting MIDI up and running, if you have an accelerator, is to turn it off during Music Studio's startup and inital setup with MIDI. You can switch your accelerator back on after that for continued use with or without MIDI. Additionally, Petar notes that he's only had success using the Apple MIDI box and not the Passport card based alternatives.</p> <p>To mark the occasion of the convenience of now running <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/music-studio-v2-0/">Music Studio</a>&nbsp;from a hard drive, I've finalised a new 32meg disk image that includes a huge amount of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/music-studio-v2-0/">Music Studio</a>&nbsp;tracks:</p> <p><img class="left" style="border: 0px initial initial;" title="null" src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/Uploads/_resampled/ResizedImage1515-icdisc.gif" alt="" hspace="null" vspace="null" width="15" height="15" align="null" />&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/Music_Library.zip">Music Library</a>&nbsp;(Music files to playback and edit with&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/music-studio-v2-0/">Music Studio</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/diversi-tune-v1-1/">Diversi Tune</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/soundsmith-v1-01/">Sound Smith</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/noisetracker/">NoiseTracker</a>&nbsp;and ALF format ~16meg)</p> <p>Gene Koh, who was the music contributor to SoftDisk GS and the composer for Pangea games&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/senseless-violence-1-and-2/">Senseless Violence II</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/cosmocade/">Cosmocade</a>&nbsp;has created a huge number of tracks across all genres, some with customised instrument sets. Additonally, the French Rock and Jazz collections by Gorgor and Menace are on disk as well, which can be enjoyed from the Music Studio itself or from their self loading player and slideshow program &ndash; an early example of a IIGS demo. Be sure to install Tool 58 (included) though to hear the music!</p> Sun, 01 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/music-studio-bonanza/ GSTape Archive Updated to v2.1.3 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/gstape-archive-updated-to-v2-1/ <p>Petar Puskarich has also found, searching among his long lost archives, his personal updated copy of <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/gstape/">GSTape</a>, v2.1.3, the SCSI tape backup software. This newer version could be the difference between restoring a tape backup or not...assuming your tape hasn't already turned into a useless spool of very thin plastic film thanks to ravages of time and resulting entropy.</p> Tue, 10 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/gstape-archive-updated-to-v2-1/ Late Christmas Gifts 1: BOOTi & Floppy Emu Reviews http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/late-christmas-gifts-1-booti-floppy-emu-reviews/ <p>Happy New Year everybody! I'm trying to re-start my old tradition of late Christmas gifts to share, absent last year as I was simply too busy to keep up.</p> <p>I received a new BOOTi card before Christmas and put it through its paces. The result is a <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/booti/">comprehensive review</a>&nbsp;of this great little card by David Mutimer and Marko Ramius.</p> <p> <div class="image left" style="width: 489;"><img src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/BOOTi-Images/_resampled/ResizedImage489600-Booti-Front-Separate.jpg" alt="" width="489" height="600" /></div> </p> <p>On the subject of disk controller cards, I've also (finally) completed a long overdue review of the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/floppyemu/">FloppyEmu</a>&nbsp;(model B) by Steve Chamberlain.</p> <p>My perspective is always around the IIGS, so see how these controller cards, along with other popular cards such as the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/cffa300/">CFFA3000</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/microdrive-ide-turbo/">Micro Drive Turbo</a>, stack up.</p> <p>The tradition that will not break however is accessing old news &ndash; get your links to old news across What is the Apple IIGS here:</p> <p><a title="2018" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2018" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2019"></a><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2019">2019</a></p> <p><a title="2018" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2018" target="_blank">2018</a></p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2017">2017</a><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2016"></a></p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2016">2016</a><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2015"></a></p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2015">2015</a></p> <p><a title="2014" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2014" target="_blank">2014</a></p> <p><a title="2013" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2013" target="_blank">2013</a></p> <p><a title="2012" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2012" target="_blank">2012</a></p> <p><a title="2011" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2011" target="_blank">2011</a></p> <p><a title="2010" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/news/2010" target="_blank">2010</a></p> Mon, 13 Jan 2020 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/late-christmas-gifts-1-booti-floppy-emu-reviews/ Late Christmas Gifts 2: New Packaging Scans, Manuals and more to come... http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/late-christmas-gifts-2-new-packaging-scans-manuals-and-more-to-come/ <p>Fellow Melbournite Anthony Beckett, who I've had the pleasure of meeting, has in his posession a sizeable collection of boxed Apple IIGS software, that he's been steadily archiving with an Applesauce as well as scanning packaging, manuals and all included materials for posterity.</p> <p>He's been uploading to the <a href="https://archive.org/details/@abeckett">Internet Archive</a>, but he's happy to fill in the gaps I've been trying to find materials for for years. As part of those gaps, he's fully archived Unicorn Software's <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/aesop-s-fables/">Aesop's Fables</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/arabian-nights/">Tales from the Arabian Nights</a>&nbsp;and First Byte's <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/first-letters-and-words/">First Letters &amp; Words</a>&nbsp;along with box scans and their included instructions.</p> <p>For apps, Anthony's archived <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/independence/">Independance v1.2</a>, which was newer than what was on archive. The drivers and fonts included for this printer driver package haven't been updated themselves, but included online documentation has since been added from earlier versions, through the Seven Hills and Ewen Wannop creation Help! system, filling another gap in providing GS/OS with the same functionality as macOS System 7. This includes the new disk image, as it wasn't copy protected. Another Seven Hills title to benefit is <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/super-convert-4/">Super Convert 4</a>&nbsp;&ndash; it now includes the manual.</p> <p>Anthony's scan of the box for <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/vcr-companion/">VCR Companion</a>&nbsp;is now included in the archive (disk images and manual was already available).</p> <p>Additionally, he's scanned the box for <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/car-builder/">Car Builder</a>, although it's quite damaged, along with the manual. If anyone has a better condition box for Car Builder (even if it's not the 3.5" disk version) and a scanner, an alternative scan would be great.</p> <p>A disk image will have to wait for now, but Anthony's also been creating .woz files for all these archives with his Applesauce for these archives, but until they're cracked and made available in 2image or .PO format, I won't be including disk images on What is the Apple IIGS? I'm currently evaulating how to add .woz support to What is the Apple IIGS? It's increased file size's effects on bandwidth and management of another format doesn't bode well for my lack of free time. Antoine's taking a break from the Apple II at the moment, so does anyone else want to check out his <a href="http://www.hackzapple.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=13&amp;topicdays=0&amp;start=0">earlier cracks</a>&nbsp;made on similar titles for Unicorn Software, First Byte and Optimum Resource/Weekly Reader Software and try to crack from the .woz files Anthony's made available on the <a href="https://archive.org/details/@abeckett?&amp;and[]=subject%3A%22Apple%20IIGS%22&amp;and[]=subject%3A%22Apple+II%22">Internet Archive</a>? It's a task made even more complicated by the fact no IIGS emulator yet supports .woz format, so you'll have to use 8-bit tools to sector edit the cracks. Although, a IIGS emulator that does support .woz format might be coming out real soon now. It's a brand new emulator with an eye towards being cycle accurate and providing a plethora of tools to make IIGS development easier than ever. Stay tuned.</p> <p>The list for <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/you-can-help/">requested materials for a complete IIGS archive</a>&nbsp;has been updated and I encourage everyone to check through their own collections to see if they can fill any gaps.</p> Wed, 15 Jan 2020 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/late-christmas-gifts-2-new-packaging-scans-manuals-and-more-to-come/ Additions, Additions, Additions http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/additions-additions-additions/ <p>Antoine's back! And he's been cracking!</p> <p>We now have fresh cracks for Anthony Beckett's recently Applesauced disk images for:</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/arabian-nights/">Tales of the Arabian Nights</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/read-a-rama/">Read-a-Rama</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/aesop-s-fables/">Aesop's Fables</a>&nbsp;and the 8-bit on 3.5" disk title <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/car-builder/">Car Builder</a>, along with a better box scan.</p> <p>Antoine's also been able to source some more material himself as well:</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/snoopy-s-reading-machine/">Snoopy's Reading Machine</a>&nbsp;(including the manual, packaging and disk label scans -&nbsp;this is the first time a copy has been found of the rare IIGS version). Antoine's also made fresh disk images (after many attempts and cleaning the magnetic media itself) with a newly working crack as well.</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/your-money-matters/">Your Money Matters</a>&nbsp;-&nbsp;packaging scan and alternative disk images for v2.0f with a manual scan to come.</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/geometry/">Geometry</a>&nbsp;(which is literally a much cleaner deprotect than the FUCK crack)</p> <p>Dan Chisarick's scanned in the <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/shadowgate/">Shadowgate</a>&nbsp;manual, IIGS reference and print out certificate at the game's completion AND the official hint book! Big thanks to Dan for this and for donating some boxed IIGS titles to add to my physical collection for permanent reference.</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/milliken-story-teller/">Milliken Story Teller</a>&nbsp;now has a box scan and disk labels for its Classics II add-on collection. Huge thanks to Kevin Savetz for scanning these very obscure materials after sharing photos of them in a recent haul that mostly included boxed software for other platforms. He's alright for an Atari guy ;-)</p> <p>John Leake has expertly scanned Stavros Katsordoris' copy of the rather hefty <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/tml-basic/">TML BASIC</a>&nbsp;manual after a request was made by Andrew Roughan to see it archived.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> Sun, 09 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/additions-additions-additions/ Mass Stickybear / Optimum Resource Updates http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/mass-stickybear-optimum-resource-updates/ <p>Antoine's back with a vengeance.</p> <p>Being something of a fan of the efforts of Optimum Resource / Weekly Reader Software, the makers of Stickybear and Antoine's all time favourite game, Run for It!, he's been collecting more from the developer/publisher and archiving everything that hasn't been scanned or imaged before.</p> <p>We've now got manuals for <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/sentence-fun/">Sentence Fun</a>&nbsp;(as well as a box scan), <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/stickybear-math/">Stickybear Math</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/stickybear-reading-comprehension/">Stickybear Reading Comprehension</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/stickybear-reading/">Stickybear Reading</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/stickybear-spell-grabber/">Stickybear Spellgrabber</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/stickybear-typing/">Stickybear Typing</a>. I've put them through Acrobat Pro to OCR them so text is completeable and conveniently searchable.</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/stickybear-shapes-8-bit/">Stickybear Shapes</a>&nbsp;has been completely and newly archived, including the box scan, manual and a fresh disk image with crack. I own and have scanned everything as part of the IIGS <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/stickybear-talking-shapes/">Talking Stickybear Shapes</a>, but this 8-bit version, on 3.5" disk no less, has never been archived anywhere else before.</p> <p>I've also created a dedicated archive for <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/rocky-s-boots/">Rocky's Boots</a>, which was the official 3.5" disk release (previously imaged by Antoine). At version 4.1, it could be installed to a hard drive / large ProDOS volume without any modification and is part of the beta collection of 8-bit apps that can run from a hard drive.</p> Sun, 16 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/mass-stickybear-optimum-resource-updates/ Pegasus Pascal Found! 99% of it Anyway http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/pegasus-pascal-found-99-of-it-anyway/ <p>Petar Puskarich has dug deep into his personal archives to find the full version of <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/pegasus-pascal/">Pegasus Pascal</a>, which Ken Burtch used to develop his IIGS shareware games&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/quest-for-the-hoard/">Quest for the Hoard</a>&nbsp;and Treasures from Heaven, as well as his SoundSmith Jukebox app in conjunction with his <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/pegasoft-drawtools-v3/">PegaSoft DrawTools</a>. Even Ken himself no longer had a copy of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/pegasus-pascal/">Pegasus Pascal</a>, so this is a particularly lucky find because it was not on archive anywhere.</p> <p>But it's not without issue &ndash; the archive was retrieved from a Shrink-It archive which extracted successfully except for a single file &ndash; "PrintMgr.pp" within the "Tool.Interface" folder. I hoped this file was part of the demo of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/pegasus-pascal/">Pegasus Pascal</a>&nbsp;we did have on archive, so we could simply replace it with that, but it wasn't a part of the demo, sadly. How limiting this will be will have to come down to a soul brave enough to try playing around with it. I think it requires the ORCA shell to work as well.</p> <p>Additionally, Petar has also found the official <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/music-studio-v2-0/">Music Studio 2.0.1</a>&nbsp;update documentation which he has scanned, which is now available alongside version 1 and version 2 manuals &ndash; download the .zip archive for the manuals to get all three.</p> Sat, 18 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/pegasus-pascal-found-99-of-it-anyway/ Last 1% of Pegasus Pascal Found. An extra 0.0.1 version found for Express http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/last-1-of-pegasus-pascal-found-an-extra-0-0-1-version-found-for-express/ <p>Antoine, despite not being an ORCA based IIGS developer, figured out the missing PrintMgr.pp file from <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/pegasus-pascal/">Pegasus Pascal</a>&nbsp;can be replaced from an ORCA install. Hoorary!&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/pegasus-pascal/">Pegasus Pascal</a>&nbsp;now seems to be complete, but it's still going to require a brave soul to test it, and you'll need a full install of ORCA to do so. Disk 1 has been updated from the archive, so get the new version and overwrite your old disk 1.</p> <p>Bill Scheffler wrote me with his newer version of the IIGS print spooling software <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/express-v2-1/">Express</a>, now at version 2.1.1. The previously highest version number held in the archive was v2.1. Thanks Bill for looking so carefully at the version numbers on WIT2GS? archives.</p> Sun, 10 May 2020 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/last-1-of-pegasus-pascal-found-an-extra-0-0-1-version-found-for-express/ KansasFest 2020: IIGS Summary http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/kansasfest-2020-iigs-summary/ <p><a href="https://www.kansasfest.org">KansasFest</a>&nbsp;2020 is over.</p> <p>This year had more attendees than ever, with 459 people registering a week before it started. This was made somewhat easier by the fact that it exclusively an online event thanks to our now old friend, COVID-19.</p> <p>Like a lot of surprises about living under some kind of lockdown, one didn't expect a pandemic to do more for promoting the Apple II in ways that had never worked before. But that's what's happened with this new surge of interest in our love of Apple's fledgling platform.</p> <p>If you missed it (as I did, because I was asleep) you can watch the whole shebang from <a href="https://www.yohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xtu-w28cbbI">Friday morning kick off</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-m9-Exkj4M">to the end of the first day</a>, to the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWnuYNIOAzI&amp;t=11182s">following Saturday morning</a>&nbsp;and the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJhQ1jlR7NI">concluding Saturday afternoon</a>.</p> <p>But you want to know what's IIGS related quickly. Here's a breakdown of what happened that's especially relevant to the IIGS:</p> <p> <p class="image left" style="width: 640;"> <div class="image left" style="width: 320;"> <p class="image left" style="width: 320;"><img title="SLED" src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/News_Images/_resampled/ResizedImage320200-Twilightv2Shot.png" alt="SLED" width="320" height="200" /></p> </div> </p> </p> <p><a href="https://www.callapple.org/apple-ii-2/twilight-ii-v2-0-released-by-a-p-p-l-e/">Twilight II v2.0</a>, the premiere IIGS screen saver, was released by <a href="https://www.callapple.org">Call A.P.P.L.E</a>. The last version of the build was found (2.0b4 by Jim Maricondo) and then Antoine tidied it up for release. He needed to regenerate its original Orca/M development environment to assemble it, user end installer scripts were prepared, a couple of resource issues were corrected and the source code was prepared.</p> <p>Anyone who knows the flame wars back in the mid to late &lsquo;90s on <a href="https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en&amp;fromgroups#!forum/comp.sys.apple2">comp.sys.apple2</a>&nbsp;may remember a beta version of Twilight II v2.0 was leaked and spread. A lot of work was by Nathan Mates and in protest of this and other incidents that freely spread the works of new Apple II developments, Nathan publicly let everyone know he would no longer develop for the IIGS and sold all his gear.</p> <p>Well, it's officially here now! It includes many games as part of the new version (possibly overkill for a screen saver, but testament to how modular and powerful Twilight II is), but my new favourite is S.L.E.D. Yes, now anyone can create scrolly messages like the FTA. Leave a message on your IIGS' screen to let your family know you're out for some much needed fresh air during lockdown. If you get your hands on the documentation and are a coder, you might like to make your own Twilight II modules yourself &ndash; I think it's begging for a slideshow module for both images and Paintworks animations where you can set the duration between them.</p> <p>Another very welcome addition is beta 4 of the modified HFS File System Translator (FST). Firstly, for those who don't know, the HFS FST is what allows System 6.0.x. to be able to read and write to HFS volumes. This format was popular on the Mac from the mid-to late &lsquo;80s up until Mac OS 8.1 in January 1998, where it was superseded by HFS+, which in turn was only recently supplanted by APFS since macOS High Sierra and Mojave.</p> <p>A patch by Jawaid Bazyar has been available for many years and everyone assumed it fixed all data corruption issues. However, as larger volumes became more easy to come by, it was being noticed that file copies would sometimes become corrupt and the only way to fix the corruption was to reformat the volume.</p> <p>Petar Puskarich has been stringently testing (through lots of repeated folder and file copying) Geoff Body's modification to the current HFS.FST with volumes over 1 gigabyte big and found it to be currently stable. Having said that, this is still beta software and you may still want to take caution when copying files over to large volumes, especially if you're using RAMFast SCSI cards, which may have issues of their own. But given there was a danger of corruption before, you may as well try this new version.</p> <p>To install, first deal with the current version of the HFS.FST file in the System &gt; FSTs folder. Delete or make it inactive through the Icon Info function of the Finder. Then, simply copy HFS.1.04b.FST into your System's FSTs folder and reboot. You can find this updated FST in the FSTs folder of the&nbsp;<img class="left" style="border: 0px initial initial;" title="null" src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/Uploads/_resampled/ResizedImage1515-icdisc.gif" alt="" hspace="null" vspace="null" width="15" height="15" align="null" />&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/System_Addons.zip">System Add-ons</a>&nbsp;volume.</p> <p><a href="http://www.ninjaforce.com/html/news.html">Ninja Force</a>, in response to the online nature of KansasFest 2020, has updated their Classic Desk Accessory IRC client, Samurai, to version 1.1.1. This <a href="http://www.ninjaforce.com/html/products_samurai.html">fixes a few things</a>&nbsp;to make it easier to access an IRC server. To use with System 6.0.x, simply drag Samurai onto the System folder and it will automatically copy it to Desk.Accs folder within. Reboot and access via the classic control panel by simultaneously holding down the open apple, control and escape keys. This is also in the&nbsp;<img class="left" style="border: 0px initial initial;" title="null" src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/Uploads/_resampled/ResizedImage1515-icdisc.gif" alt="" hspace="null" vspace="null" width="15" height="15" align="null" />&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/System_Addons.zip">System Add-ons</a>&nbsp;volume in the CDAs folder. It's also installed to my self booting&nbsp;<img class="left" style="border: 0px initial initial;" title="null" src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/Uploads/_resampled/ResizedImage1515-icdisc.gif" alt="" hspace="null" vspace="null" width="15" height="15" align="null" />&nbsp;<a title="Communication Apps" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/Communications.zip" target="_blank">Communication Apps</a>&nbsp;volume. Samurai requires the Marinetti TCP stack installed to run and the relevant hardware as well, such as the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/uthernet/">Uthernet I</a>&nbsp;or <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/uthernet-ii/">II</a>.</p> <p>Rebecca Heineman did a presentation on how she ported <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/out-of-this-world/">Out of this World</a>&nbsp;(aka Another World) to the IIGS when everyone at Interplay said it couldn't be done. She's also recounted that IIGS versions of Ultima II, Bard's Tale III and Wasteland are sitting on her hard drive and that art is required to complete them. Although I get the feeling rights issues are going to have to be sorted out as well before they could be released publicly. Rebecca confirmed that she's still contracted to do the IIGS version of <a href="https://www.6502workshop.com/p/nox-archaist.html">Nox Archaist</a>, but that the original 8-bit version needs to be complete before she can work on a IIGS specific version. Speaking of which, the 6502 Workshop also revealed new elements of gameplay during the KFest sessions.</p> <p>Not IIGS specific, but you'd be mad to miss out on the latest version of <a href="https://archive.org/details/TotalReplay">Total Replay</a>&nbsp;if you have any form of mass storage on your IIGS. Play over 300 classic 8-bit Apple II action games from a customised front end on a single volume! With screen grabs, super hi-res artwork for packaging scans (to which I've now contributed) and now a help system (to which I've also submitted some summarised info for).</p> <p>To finish, somewhat mysteriously, the brand new, cycle accurate IIGS emulator, Crossrunner is coming soon to a Windows machine near you.</p> Thu, 30 Jul 2020 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/kansasfest-2020-iigs-summary/ Good News and Bad News... http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/good-news-and-bad-news/ <p>There's good news and bad news.</p> <p>First, the good news: Qkumba has begun applying his talents for wrangling software to work in ways never originally designed, and we now have new hard drive installable versions of <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/alien-mind/">Alien Mind</a>, <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/dream-zone/">Dream Zone</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/transylvania-iii/">Transylvania III</a>.</p> <p><a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/alien-mind/">Alien Mind</a>&nbsp;works fine if you boot into ProDOS 8 from any configuation with the san inc pack. This has the advantage over the older Balmerpeak Smartport Edition in that you can now easily play this from any mass storage volume on a IIGS (whereas before it was really only convenient for the CFFA3000). Qkumba's still tweaking it to work under any configuation to work from GS/OS as well &ndash; it may work for your configuration, or it may not (it doesn't work for my two IIGS setups, a ROM01 with a Transwarp GS + CFFA3000 and a ROM3 with a ZipGS + CFFA3K). A good trick you may not know is if you hold the 8 key down while booting System 6.0.x, it will bypass loading GS/OS and quickly boot to ProDOS 8 and take you to the BASIC prompt. From there, you can type BYE, and you'll either go to the old PrODOS launcher or the newer Bitsy Bye launcher (with ProDOS 8 v2.4.x) and you can launch ProDOS 8 applications from there.</p> <p>Another ProDOS 8 game you'll need to load this way is&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/transylvania-iii/">Transylvania III</a>&nbsp;&ndash; it's now playable from mass storage, but it is completely incompatible with GS/OS.</p> <p>And lastly,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/dream-zone/">Dream Zone</a>, Naughty Dog's second ever game after Ski Crazed, is now mass storage friendly, so enjoy more convenient play of this IIGS original game from GS/OS (any System version should work from <a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/system-3-2/">ProDOS 16 v1.3</a>&nbsp;onwards).</p> <p>All games have Qkumba's san inc disk images attached to their individual archives &ndash; see links above attached to each title. I've also added them to my 32meg volumes &ndash; Dream Zone lives on the&nbsp;<img class="left" style="border: 0px initial initial;" title="null" src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/Uploads/_resampled/ResizedImage1515-icdisc.gif" alt="" hspace="null" vspace="null" width="15" height="15" align="null" />&nbsp;<a title="Adventure and Simulation Games" href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/Adventure_and_Sim_Games.zip">Adventure and Simulation Games</a>&nbsp;volume, but Alien Mind (if you restore game 8 from this volume you'll be on the last level, but you now have maximum health, so once you're through this challenging level you may have enough hit points to best the alien at the end and win!) and Transylvania III are on the&nbsp;<img class="left" style="border: 0px initial initial;" title="null" src="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/assets/Uploads/_resampled/ResizedImage1515-icdisc.gif" alt="" hspace="null" vspace="null" width="15" height="15" align="null" />&nbsp;<a href="http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/files/Games_with_Path_Mods.zip">Games with Path Modifications</a>&nbsp;volume, as there's no room left on the Action or Adventure Games volumes.</p> <p>Now, onto the bad news. What is the Apple IIGS?, in its third incarnation, has been runnnig for 12 years now and some of its dependencies are no longer supported in a near future server update. So the site is going to go static while we update to newer versions of back end things and fix what's going to break before going live again. In the meantime, I may be able to update .zip files for 32meg volumes and individual archives howver, so as more Qkumba conversions come in, I'll let everyone know via Facebook and Twitter.</p> Sat, 29 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/good-news-and-bad-news/