What are your Apple II plans for 2023?

[Keatah]

What are your Apple II plans and goals for 2023? Rightsizing? Upsizing? Downsizing? Beginning a collection? Selling off stuff? Changing focus of what you have already?

 

Mine remain very much the same as the last few years. Some downsizing and rightsizing. Rounding out documentation through either scans or ebay purchases. Continuing to scan my material. Maybe adding a bit of hardware here and there if the pricing is right.

[+OLD CS1]

I have an Apple II clone, a Honeywell, I think, which was given to me last year.  I am going to work on restoring it.  I doubt I will keep it, as it takes up a LOT of space.

[Keatah]

A black Bitch'n'Howler? We could hear those things down the hallway in school!

[+OLD CS1]

On 12/31/2022 at 5:31 PM, Keatah said:

A black Bitch'n'Howler? We could hear those things down the hallway in school!

We had one in my elementary school office, IIRC.  But I was wrong about mine: it is a Franklin Ace.

[DeathAdderSF]

I plan to convert even more disk images to the Trackstar E & Plus custom format, and finish compiling a custom HDD image of games fully compatible with the Trackstar E & Plus.

 

Also fully explore the capabilities and software (in)compatibility of the PC Transporter newly installed in my IIgs.

[Keatah]

The Applied Engineering Transporter? That's a 286 based card isn't it? I totally forget..

[The Usotsuki]

V20, iirc.

[DeathAdderSF]

10 hours ago, Keatah said:

The Applied Engineering Transporter?

 

Yes.

 

I don't have an IBM 5160 tank anymore, so this card will be my dedicated CGA (terrible 4-color gfx) machine. Unlike the 5160 however, the PC Transporter is limited to CGA only. Which means it won't get a ton of use, because I hate CGA. But I'll have a little fun with it, anyway.

Edited January 9, 2023 by DeathAdderSF

[DeathAdderSF]

9 hours ago, The Usotsuki said:

V20, iirc.

 

V30.

[The Usotsuki]

V20 vs. V30 is like 8088 vs. 8086, so... 😜

[garycimera1968]

Apple // plans? Continuing to work on my GS. Stuffing even more RAM into it. Acquiring a reliable Floppy Emu. Polishing up and displaying my original Apple //e from 1985. I grew up with the Apple // series yet put way more time into the Atari line of computers in the last few years. It's time to get back to my roots.

[ColecoGamer]

I plan to buy a good monitor (if I can find one) and game like crazy on it. My Apple IIC has extended Ram, too. (I believe 4megs? I’ll have to double-check.).

[magnusfalkirk]

Get my computer room completely set up and play with all the different systems I have in there, an Apple IIe, //c+, two IIGSes, a2005 Mac mini's and (gasp) an Atari 800xl. Possibly even a Commodore 128, if my friend can find the disk drives, printer, monitor and disks that go with the computer.

 

I have a Dan ][ card in the IIe, a FujiApple hooked up to the //c+, a CFFA3k in my ROM 01 IIGS and a FEMU (that is being put into an old Disk ][ case) for the ROM 03 IIGS. I've also got 2 5.25 drives hooked up to the IIe (one Apple and one Laser) and 2 3.5 drives hooked up to the ROM 03 GS, which will be replaced when the FEMU gets back.

[potatohead]

On 1/23/2023 at 1:30 PM, garycimera1968 said:

grew up with the Apple // series yet put way more time into the Atari line of computers in the last few years. It's time to get back to my roots

I am roughly the same.  Got an Atari at home and used the crap out of it.  Eventually got an Apple and did all my serious computing on it.  Mostly office type stuff, communications and some I/O, testing which I also did on the Atari via joystick ports.

 

For a long time, I got into Atari and the VCS.  Had a lot of fun, and then it all got stolen while moving.

 

First machine I bought back was a nice //e platinum from Apple Rescue of Denver.  

 

The sort of flipped a switch due to how great the CFFA 3000 card was!  So, I went ahead and began to really set the //e up!  The FastChip card runs up to 16Mhz and mine has a 65816 on it, mostly because I always wanted to write some ASM and explore whether it had any advantages over the 65C02 for dealing with the crazy screen layout.  ( mostly nope, but I haven't gone that deep yet too)

 

Then the FujiNet came out and I had scored an 800 XL to replace mine...

 

The FujiNet device is great like the CFFA 3000 is, and made for an awesome experience!

 

And that's my next Apple card, along with the video card being discussed here.

 

 

[Iamgroot]

On 1/9/2023 at 2:58 AM, DeathAdderSF said:

 

Yes.

 

I don't have an IBM 5160 tank anymore, so this card will be my dedicated CGA (terrible 4-color gfx) machine. Unlike the 5160 however, the PC Transporter is limited to CGA only. Which means it won't get a ton of use, because I hate CGA. But I'll have a little fun with it, anyway.

I had collected quite a few text based games at one time for my PCTransporter.  Just as good if not better than the CGA based games.  Even had a text based version of Windows 1.1

[DeathAdderSF]

I've never been a huge fan of text games, apart from Zork I and The Hobbit: I still think both of those are awesome. And yes, I know The Hobbit has optional graphics for the locations, but at its heart it's a text adventure - and one of the best!

 

But one of the things I'm looking forward to trying out is the new CGA version of Wolfenstein 3D, which no longer requires a 286 to run. I'm sure it'll be unplayable at NEC V30 speed, but I'm curious to try - despite the fact that we already have a native IIgs port of Wolf3d.

 

BTW! While we're on the subject of our Apple II to-do lists, make sure y'all try out the recently released "Game Boy Tetris" for Apple II, which is faaaaantastic: even features ingame music over the beeper!

Edited January 27, 2023 by DeathAdderSF

[Keatah]

It's not a beeper. It's a full resolution 1-bit speaker. The 6502 pulls or pushes the cone from one extreme to the other. It's more apt to call it a clicker. But I get your drift..

[newtmonkey]

I had a blast completing Phantasie and Shard of Spring on my Apple IIc back in 2021, but didn't get much of a chance at all to play anything on it in 2022.  I'd like to complete another RPG on it this year, but haven't decided which:

• Phantasie II
• Demon's Winter
• Wizard's Crown

I'm not sure if Wizard's Crown will hold my interest, as it's more like a tactical fantasy combat simulator with some RPG trappings, than a "true" RPG.  That leaves Phantasie II, but it's so similar to the first game, that I might want to wait another year.  That leaves Demon's Winter, but I kind of want to save that one for later, since I know I'll like it (it's the sequel to Shard of Spring, which I really liked).  Maybe it's finally time to start playing Deathlord!!

[DeathAdderSF]

1 hour ago, Keatah said:

It's more apt to call it a clicker.

 

Whatever we call it, that new Tetris game makes excellent use of it.

 

Although I think it's neat how many modern-day game devs are supporting the Mockingboard, there's something to be said for good old-fashioned support of the system's base configuration. And, in my opinion, not enough Apple II games feature ingame music, due to how tricky it is to program. The fact that this here fella put so much effort into it for Tetris is just fab.

[Keatah]

9 hours ago, DeathAdderSF said:

not enough Apple II games feature ingame music,

I think the first game I recognized as having respectable in-game music was either Bug Attack or Microwave. I'm sure there are others, just that these two come to mind immediately. Must have been good enough to have made that lasting impression.

 

[+OLD CS1]

13 hours ago, DeathAdderSF said:

BTW! While we're on the subject of our Apple II to-do lists, make sure y'all try out the recently released "Game Boy Tetris" for Apple II, which is faaaaantastic: even features ingame music over the beeper!

Not an Apple guy... this is pretty sweet.  I played it in AppleWin last night for too long.  I want to try it now in Apple2e on the Amiga.

 

Speaking of, that 8088 port of Wolf3d might run like cold mashed potatoes in PCTask, but I still want to try it.

[DeathAdderSF]

Dig Dug, Force 7, and Moon Patrol also have ingame music. I feel that Force 7 and Moon Patrol both sound very good, whilst Dig Dug is a tad rough.

[garycimera1968]

On 1/27/2023 at 2:45 AM, Keatah said:

It's not a beeper. It's a full resolution 1-bit speaker. The 6502 pulls or pushes the cone from one extreme to the other. It's more apt to call it a clicker. But I get your drift..

Back in the day on my original Apple //e I had taken the speaker leads from the motherboard and hooked them up to a small amplifier I had with an automotive 6 x 9, and it sounded pretty darn good. Sure, it was only one channel, but it was louder than the stock speaker.

[Keatah]

21 minutes ago, garycimera1968 said:

Back in the day on my original Apple //e I had taken the speaker leads from the motherboard and hooked them up to a small amplifier I had with an automotive 6 x 9, and it sounded pretty darn good. Sure, it was only one channel, but it was louder than the stock speaker.

I did the exact same thing. I recall using either Kraco or Spark speakers and an equally cheap amplifier. The kinds of brands sold only at automotive stores. The kinds of brands that might be sold out of a white van that would cruise around town randomly. Eventually I got a  professionally branded tuner and more quality speakers.

[garycimera1968]

I used a regular tuner/amp, not an automotive amp.