#iigs — Public Fediverse posts

Later today - 8bit Computer Club 6:30PM EDT

- We continue our journey with "The Hobbit" on the Commodore 64
- Apple IIgs 8bit game requests
- A look back at the "Commodore" Magazine
- Demos from the scene and more

#retro #8bit #c64 #iigs #misterfpga

8Bit Computer Club Friday Nights at 6:30PM EDT

Tonight's Topics:

- The Hobbit for the Commodore 64
- Controllers for 8-bit computers
- More demos from the Commodore scene
- Apple IIgs core on the MiSTer FPGA

#retro #8bit #c64 #iigs

8Bit Computer Club tonight at 6:30PM EDT

- Checking out the Commodore 64C I picked up over the weekend. Is it a shortboard?
- Disassembling a homemade Commodore 64 power supply.
- 8bit basketball games.
- MiSTer's New Apple IIGS Core

#retro #8bit #c64 #iigs

@fuuma #AppleII for me. More specifically the Apple #IIgs, but I'm a fan of the entire line.

I am growing increasingly fond of my Power Macintosh G4 desktop, though. It's still a very nice computer, and pleasant to use, 25 years on.

#retrocomputing #frogfind #searchengine #apple #iigs #appleiigs #tool130 # marinetti

🍏 1986 Calling: Surfing FrogFind on an Apple IIGS!
As you know, I regularly check the server logs to update the User-Agent parser for FrogFind. Usually, my job involves filtering out aggressive modern web scrapers, adding some obscure 2000s WAP browsers, or analyzing broken headers. But this week, the quarantine log caught an absolute legend.

Someone actually queried the modern web using an Apple IIGS from 1986!

To see a machine that is turning 40 years old actively rendering HTML in 2026 is simply mind-blowing.

The Network Magic: Tool130 & Marinetti 🌐
The User-Agent string in the server log revealed exactly how this vintage beast made its way onto the internet: Mozilla/2.0 (Compatible; Tool130; IIgs).

The TCP/IP Stack: Out of the box, the Apple IIGS obviously didn't ship with native internet capabilities. It connects to the web using Marinetti, a brilliant, community-built TCP/IP stack written specifically for the system.

The Engine: "Tool130" is the specific system tool extension within the Marinetti architecture that handles the TCP/IP protocols. It acts as the vital bridge, allowing early web browsers on the IIGS to talk to the servers of today.

Mission Accomplished 🐸
This log entry right here is exactly why FrogFind was built. We strip away the gigabytes of JavaScript, the bloated CSS frameworks, and the heavy encryption handshakes of the modern internet, returning pure, lightweight HTML. It proves that with a bit of proxy magic and a lot of passion, no computer is ever truly obsolete.

To the anonymous retro-surfer who fired up their Apple IIGS, loaded the TCP/IP stack into RAM, and typed a query into FrogFind: We salute you!

Keep the retro web alive! 🚀

One Arm Battle is just as fun as I remembered. #iigs
#retrocomputing #retrogaming

I am not sure why deleting a page break in AppleWorks for the #IIgs can reliably reproduce this error message.

But, I can say that I do love that I am presented with a second option.

("OTHER button" sadly does nothing. It would be even more entertaining if it did something.)

#AprilApples #Retrocomputing #VintageApple

The IIgs has been shut down, and upon coming back up again everything is still running the way it should be. Lends credence to my idea that it was the voltage running low on the backup battery.

For all four of you out there running an Apple #IIgs:

- It looks like the computer starts acting wonky when the backup battery voltage drops to around 2.9V.
- For my makeshift battery made up of two alkaline AA cells, that took approximately 2 years.

#Retrocomputing

Argh. My Apple #IIgs just decided to give me a scare. I switched it on and it wouldn't boot from any disk (BlueSCSI or FloppyEmu), going directly to the boot menu.

The boot settings were all as I'd left them (time and date, boot slot etc.), but I opened it up to check the ROM battery anyway.

My IIgs came to me with the old lithium cell cut out, and I've replaced that with a pair of AA alkaline cells. Don't worry, they sit on the floor of the case, can't ever leak onto anything.

#AprilApples

I can attest that Time Pilot for the Apple #IIgs is great.

#Retrogaming #Retrocomputing #VintageApple

I am very reluctant to mess with working software, so it was only after half a year that I updated surl-server and associated applications for my Apple #IIgs.

@colin_mcmillen, did all your work with the Quicktake cameras and image rendering carry over to the Mastodon for Apple II client? I would swear that the posted photographs look much better, with more accurate color approximation and dithering.

#Retrocomputing #VintageApple

@eschaton

(Warning: this is going to be dumb)

The Apple #IIgs is like the Nintendo #WiiU

- massively upgraded CPU, graphics, and sound over its predecessor
- expanded and improved online capability
- maintained full backwards compatibility with previous generation software and accessories
- abandoned too early by its manufacturer, which decided to support a different product line
- still being patiently hacked and developed for by a small but devoted fan base

Source: I own and use both.

I’m surprised the Apple IIgs community hasn’t created a “Samuel Clemens” logic board design to allow people to make an “Apple IIgs+” like the “Mark Twain” prototypes using existing IIgs (and other) parts.

#retrocomputing #iigs

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#CollaborativeGenealogy #GenealogyEducation #FamilyHistory #IIGS #WikiTree

I picked up an Apple II SCSI Card off of eBay, sold "untested." It was cheap, and the photos made it look to be in good shape.

It has exactly one electrolytic capacitor, and it didn't look to be leaking but I was still wary. After desoldering it, it tested fine, but I already had a replacement in hand.

I tried it in my Apple #IIgs, with my external #BlueSCSIv2. There were no fireworks, but it didn't want to boot off of the drive image: "UNABLE TO LOAD PRODOS". I'll poke at it again soon.

I got in some game time with the #IIgs this evening: Vindicators! I had a vague sense that this was going to be a combat racing game in the same vein as Roadblasters, but I was way off. Sci-fi battle tanks!

#Retrogaming #Tengen

I've upgraded to the newest, fanciest version of Mastodon for Apple II (by @colin_mcmillen), along with the accompanying update to surl-server. My IIgs has been sitting unused for a few months as I sorted out a lot of things in the office and dealt with the summer chaos. But it deserves to be up and running here in the corner, so I've tidied up its table and reconnected all the many cables.

#IIgs #Apple2 #Retrocomputing

May have just killed my iigs while trying to troubleshoot the 3.5" drive. I plugged interface cable directly into the ribbon port. The 3.5 drive ejected nonstop until i quickly powered off the iigs, and now it wont boot at all.
#apple2 #iigs #vintagecomputer #appleii

Today's #MITFlea seemed to be very #Apple-heavy. I saw two working #IIgs systems for sale, complete with drives and monitors and everything. There were two trashcan Macs for sale, and one was gone by the time I was leaving. And this iBook looked to be in amazing shape.

#Apple #Macintosh #Retrocomputing

Just before the Easter weekend, I received the replacement #SCSI card from the very kind eBay seller. I updated them to know it had arrived in good order, but that I wasn't going to be able to try it out for a few days because of guests and festivities.

But I got around to it. AND I INSTALLED IT THE RIGHT WAY 'ROUND THIS TIME.

(I'm never going to forget that I did that ...)

#IIgs #AppleIIgs #Retrocomputing #NewEnglandVintageComputing

I finally have a joystick for my Apple IIgs. It was USD 10,- off of eBay, "untested" but looked intact? Arrived in today's post. I'm going to clean it up, open it up, and see whether anything inside looks dodgy. Want to make sure nothing looks suspicious before I connect it to the computer.

Does anyone know of a joystick test/calibration program for Apple II computers?

#Apple2 #AppleII #IIgs #Retrocomputing

Speaking of Print Shop, I used surl-server (https://github.com/colinleroy/a2tools) by @colin_mcmillen to connect my Apple #IIgs to the Brother laser printer on the WiFi network. Print Shop is still awesome, I've been printing holiday and birthday cards. It seems like *everyone* remembers Print Shop and misses it.

#Retrocomputing #PrintShop

🧵 4/x

Back at the end of October, I got around to opening up my 3.5-inch #floppy drive for my Apple #IIgs (https://mastodon.social/@GamesMissed/113386990352174920), and found that the likely suspect was the correct one: a cogwheel in the eject mechanism was crumbling and had already tossed some teeth.

I ordered replacement gears, made the swap, and the drive is working perfectly now. This lets me use software like Print Shop, which won't run without a floppy disk present.

#Retrocomputing #PrintShop

🧵 3/x

When I got my #IIgs earlier this year, one of my goals was trying out #HyperCard. I've only ever heard of it before, never had any exposure to it. Life is busy, but after 6 months I finally got around to running the software.

This is cool. I want to see what I can do with this.

#Retrocomputing

So, if running a program within GS/OS, it isn't even necessary to switch the keyboard layout in the Control Panel if all you want is to use additional non-English characters.

But, the layout *is* different, and I worked it out.

(I didn't map out all the Compose possibilities, I stopped once I had German letters. There are many additional outputs of Option+<key>, though.)

#Retrocomputing #Deutsch #AppleII #IIgs