Open Apple #26 (Apr 2013): Earl Evans, Z80, Zephyr, and LucasArts

This month on Open Apple, Mike and Ken chat with Earl Evans, Retrobits podcast host and Commodore 64 enthusiast — but we don’t hold that against him. Registration for KansasFest 2013 is open, and we all want to go, but Earl has another destination in mind. Tech history is being unearthed before our eyes, with schematics for operating systems and circuit boards appearing in museums (where the price is right) and art galleries (where it’s not). Brutal Deluxe is on a tear, releasing retroprogramming utilities for Windows and commercial games for the Apple II; we’re big fans! But not all news is happy news: the Steve Jobs film has been delayed, and LucasArts has closed its doors — will we ever get another Maniac Mansion game for the Apple II? Maybe not, but Richard Garriott’s successful Kickstarter gave fans a chance to pick up an original copy of Akalabeth. Better late than never! Click past the jump for links mentioned in this episode. Introduction (0:00 – 9:20) * An apology to Mr. Egan Ford* Behind the scenes with Open Apple* Boston’s WordPress community* Dave Ross (csixty4) on Twitter * Jason Scott of Textfiles.com and Sockington the Cat* Kay Savetz of Terrible Nerd* Setting up the Apple II at MIT* Zork on Big Bang Theory User Login (9:21 – 23:16) * Brent Spiner is unhireable since “the incident”* Earl Evans of the Retrobits podcast* Martin Haye’s Super-Mon*