Friday, May 14, 2004

Thanks to an email from John Dilks, who was show manager for the famous PC'76 computer show that featured the first big demonstration of the Apple-1, I've corrected the place in Chapter 2 where this is mentioned. He pointed out to me that the Apple-1 was not the only 6502-based computer demonstrated at the show. There was also the KIM-1, and a computer I had not yet heard of, the Baby. Thanks for the info, John!

Monday, May 3, 2004

I've come across two significant sources of first-hand historical information about Apple Computer. The Apple Computer History Weblog and Folklore both provide blog space for stories written by people who worked at Apple. Additionally, I've added a category for "Fan Sites", for those enthusiasts who have something they want to say about their own experience with the Apple II. All of this can be found on the Links page.

Wednesday, February 25, 2004

Thanks to an e-mail from Jim of The Mothership! web site, their address in Links has been fixed. If you haven't looked at it recently, it is worth another visit.

Monday, January 26, 2004

Thanks to e-mail from Brantley Coile, I have corrected the name of the Association for Computing Machinery that was mentioned in Chapter 2 where Stan Veit's experiences with the Apple-1 are recounted. The original entry called it the "Association of Computer Machinery", which is is not only doubly incorrect, but (as Coile pointed out) makes it sound as if the Computer Machines are themselves in an association.

Of course, considering how we tend to think of our computers in anthropomorphic terms, this might not necessarily be totally inaccurate... nevertheless, since the ACM really does exist and has a specific name, I've corrected this error. Thanks Brantley!

Monday, January 12, 2004

Thanks to a reader e-mail, I've corrected the start date of A+ Magazine, moving it from January 1983 to the correct November 1983.

Sunday, December 14, 2003

Thanks to an e-mail from Willi Kusche, the link to casaGS has been corrected on the Links page. Thanks Willi!

Tuesday, December 2, 2003

I've done a small of amount of house cleaning, pruning off dead links from the site. I was also made aware of the awesome amount of historic information that is available on the Atari Archives site, including the entire contents of a 1984 book, Digital Deli, and have added a link to this on the Links page of this History site.

Saturday, November 22, 2003

Thanks to an e-mail, I was notified about a bad link to the 1978-80 Software in Appendix A, and this has now been corrected.

Wednesday, July 30, 2003

Thanks to "brucifer", I have a small correction I've made to the Integer BASIC section of Chapter 16, with some further corrections coming. Thanks!

Friday, June 27, 2003

Thanks to an e-mail from Ted Phares, I've made a small correction to the part in Chapter 7. Although I had alluded to the Enhanced IIe being available both as a new computer (with a new look to the keyboard) and as an upgrade for original IIe owners, this was not clearly stated. The new wording should make this more clear.

Saturday, May 17, 2003

I've updated the site to display counters on every page. Additionally, I've redesigned the menus on most pages so they are aligned at the top rather than at the right side, which will give more space to the text and pictures displayed on the pages.

As for content: I've got an update on the Telecommunications chapter, describing the origins or ARPANET (the precursor to the Internet) in better detail, to give proper background to the commercial online services that arose in the late 1970's and during the 1980's.

Tuesday, April 29, 2003

Thanks to the contributions of Andrew Molloy, I have scans of the cover of an issue of Peelings II magazine, and Joe Kohn's Shareware Solutions II newsletter in the Magazine section of the Museum.

Thursday, April 24, 2003

I've finally posted some pictures sent to me over a month ago, involving use of an Apple IIe case to house a Pentium computer. Kind of a retro thing, like putting a tuner and CD player in an old-time radio case; nevertheless, the hacker gets points for asthetics. See it here. I've also remodeled the Custom page in the museum to have the Visible IIe pictures all on one page, rather than a separate one for each.

Finally, I have learned how to include code for a counter and "last modified" message on the web site, and have begun to include it with pages that I am changing. I made the graphics characters for the numbers by doing a clip, cut, and past from the text screen on Bernie ][ The Rescue, to keep up with the nostalgic effect. Enjoy!

Monday, April 21, 2003

I'm still here, but have been busy with other projects for the past few months. Added to the Links page an entry for a web page where Bob Frankston, who helped design VisiCalc, has been recording his recollections about how the program was created.

For other things that I've done recently, view issues of The Lamp! for this year, at the web site where all issues of GEnieLamp A2 and The Lamp! are archived. Some of the info provided there about those digital publications will eventually be incorporated into this site as well.

Monday, December 16, 2002

A couple of updates to add to the web site. In the Links section, check out the link to the "Apple II Forever" song! Also, in the "Where Are They Now?" section, Bob Bishop, and early Apple II programmer, is featured.

Friday, November 22, 2002

Thanks to an observant reader, I've made a small correction in Chapter 11, part two of the Apple IIGS story. He pointed out that most Macs in the early 1990's did not have 64-pin SIMMs, but only one model did. I had stated that the Mark Twain prototype, which had this size of SIMM, was similar to all of those other Macs in terms of memory package used. This has now been corrected. Thanks!

Sunday, November 17, 2002

I've added a link to the Computer Circulation Center, which still carries some Apple II products. Check here to look.

Saturday, November 9, 2002

I've fixed the Links section to have easier access to the various sections by including a menu for them. Also, I've added a link to a web site that lists free Apple IIGS software, and re-organized the A2Central.com information.

Thursday, October 24, 2002

I might as well use this "blog" software for more than just updates on what has actually been posted here, but also let the inquiring reader know what else is being done to spiff up the History. I am in the process of reading through the GEnieLamp and Lamp newsletters that were posted on GEnie and later on Delphi from 1992 through the present, in order to bring myself up to speed on activities/history in the Apple II world since 1994, when I did the original work on the history. When that review is completed (and I am indexing it as I go) I will be able to update the Timeline and other parts of the history. Currently I am working on the May, 1999 issue (only 2 1/2 years worth to go!)

Wednesday, October 23, 2002

Added to the Links page a new entry for casaGS, a host site for MS-DOS and Mac OS X emulators for the Apple II GS .

Monday, October 21, 2002

Thanks to Guestbook25, the Apple II History Guestbook section is working again.

Monday, October 14, 2002

Just uploaded a photo of a Franklin Ace 2100 to the museum here, with permission of the eBay seller who had posted it there.

I'm in the process of adding the old entries to a new guestbook, so that hopefully will back up and running soon.

Monday, October 7, 2002

The "What's New" section is now controlled by a marvelous set of Perl scripts from Greymatter. These scripts control a "blog" (short for "web log") in which I will keep info posted as to what has been updated. This method is faster and easier than loading the HTML file "new.html" into a text editor, adding the entry, and then FTPing the resultant update.

I've taken all of the previous "What's New" entries, entered them into this blog engine, and it is now live. You may make comments (if you wish) on any entry here.

Monday, October 6, 2002

There is now in the Museum a photograph of the Microsoft Softcard, courtesy of the Gravenstein Apple User Group.

Friday, October 4, 2002

A new entry in the Links section is for the Classic Computing Archive, a fantastic site with the full text of Antic and STart magazines (Atari publications) and (of interest to computer and Apple history buffs) a start on the full text of Creative Computing magazine. There are some classic articles on the Apple II in this archive.

I've uploaded to the Museum a picture of the Apple IIc with LCD monitor that Apple produced for a short time back in the mid 1980's.

Wednesday, September 18, 2002

There are some new pictures in the Magazines section of the Museum, specifically starting here in the section for Nibble magazine, thanks to some rare covers of Nibble Mac and PC Hands On sent to me by Mike Harvey.

Wednesday, September 4, 2002

The discussion forum was never a popular item from the start, and the newer software has turned into an ad-fest, so I've eliminated it and replaced it with a biography section, called Where Are They Now? and the first entry is from Mike Harvey, former publisher of Nibble magazine from 1980 to 1992.

Thursday, August 29, 2002

I'm currently working on adding information about the Franklin and Laser 128 series of Apple II clones, and also information about Apple II emulators that have appeared since 1992.

Thursday, June 13, 2002

This site has been given the History Award for July 2002 by the Dot Eaters and Numbers Crunchers on the German website of that name. Click here to see it!

Tuesday, May 28, 2002

I am now in the process of adding timeline graphs to the history pages where it seems appropriate, in order to illustrate the timing of events compared to each other. Many thanks to Jon Peltier's help in making Microsoft Excel cooperate and produce the graphics I wanted.

Thursday, April 11, 2002

A photo was donated to the Museum by Bill Kelly for the Computers: Prototypes page, one of Steve Jobs demonstrating an early version of the Apple II.

Wednesday, February 27, 2002

Updates to the URL for the Japanese language Apple II World site, with links added to automatically tranlate to English (via AltaVista's Babelfish translator). Similar auto translation links provided for Yuki Takahashi's "Apple-II Tree" and "Eric Stindel's L'histoire d'Apple".

Monday, December 17, 2001

Changed site e-mail address to "a2history@mac.com", since the old address will soon be dead, releated to the Excite@Home failure. New updates to Chapter 3 (The Apple II), and I have split out some of the information that has traditionally been there into a separate glossary.

Tuesday, November 13, 2001

For the first time in over five years, I've updated the story told on the Apple II History website, specifically in Chapter 1 (Pre-Apple History) and Chapter 2 (The Apple-1). Chapter 1 now does a better job explaining the importance of the Apple II in a general fashion, and also gives a better picture of the early pioneering microcomputer world. Chapter 2 is now tells a much better story about the first Apple computer, the Apple-1.

Saturday, September 1, 2001

I don't have an actual story or article about this (yet), but the Apple II History website actually was instrumental in saving the television production of the 2001 National Muscular Dystrophy Telethon that took place during this past Labor Day weekend. If anyone noticed in the Discussion board, we had an emergency cry for help from someone who needed to know how to use the editing keys on an Apple II. I inquired via e-mail, and found out that the author of the cry for help runs the company that currently provides the hardware (and software) that controls the giant toteboard that displays the running totals for the telethon (as well as in the past being responsible for scoreboards for game shows like Love Connection and Jeopardy!). Her late father designed a peripheral board for an Apple II Plus that sent the data typed on the keyboard to the toteboard to cause it to change its display. The MDA people wanted an additional digit in this year's board, making it necessary for her to edit the Applesoft BASIC program that managed everything. Thanks to the information provided on this site, she was able to find out this information (in Chapter 6), and thus made the toteboard displayed on national television to function properly!


Also:

• I've obtained permission to reprint two classic articles involving Steve Wozniak, the creator of the Apple I and II computers. Found in the Articles section of the Museum, the first is a reprint of an interview of Wozniak done by BYTE Magazine in 1984, and the second is a transcript from Call-A.P.P.L.E. of a talk given by Wozniak in 1986 at the Apple World convention. Both are fascinating reads, and were the basis for some of the earlier sections of the Apple II History when I original wrote those articles.
• Oh, yes; I have also added some more pictures I've found for the actual chapters of the History, specifically in Chapters 1 through 9, with more to come in the future. I'm actually getting sources for photos as I am able to get permission.
  

Friday, August 10, 2001

Added a link to a site about Apple's early advertising (see links under Apple History), and removed some remaining old links to the Museum for Obsolete & Dead computers (which has merged with Old-Computers.com. Fixed incorrect sizes of the pictures in the Custom Apple II entry in the Museum. Thanks to Dan Harkless for pointing out these errors to me.

Saturday, July 21, 2001

The murky origins of "FID" and "FISHEAD" are further explained here. Thanks to Mark Percival for pointing this out and looking up the reference in back issues of Open-Apple.

Thursday, June 21, 2001

• Added information about Beneath Apple DOS provided by its author, Don Worth, via e-mail.
• Added a link to the search engine on the Home page to all other pages with links at the top. Also added more pictures to the Magazines part of the History.
• Split out the non-Apple II history links on the Links page into its own category.
• Added a search engine for the site (see lower part of Home page).
• News! This site was featured as a "Pick of the Day" at the BBC Online Webguide - Best of the Web on June 4, 2001, the 24th anniversary of the release of the Apple II. Click here for the specific link where the History was mentioned.
• Added screen shots of software from Apple's DOS 3.2 Master disk to Chapter 14 & Chapter 15
• Changed the MIDI player on the Song Parodies pages to show a visible player that can be stopped, volume adjusted, replayed, etc.

Tuesday, May 15, 2001

Total revision of appearance of web site!

Tuesday, April 17, 2001

Moved to new domain (http://apple2history.org)

Monday, March 12, 2001

• Added date of discontinuation of the Apple IIe Card for the Mac LC (5/95) to Appendix B Timeline file here, and fixed end of Appendix C Geneology Timeline here.
• Added link to the Museum of Obsolete Computers.

Sunday, February 26, 2001

• Added the Apple II Museum, where pictures of unusual hardware can be found. The "Super II" prototype board is pictured here, as well as an Apple IIe with a clear plastic case.
• Updated the end date for Softdisk magazine in Chapter 21, and added it to the Timeline.
• Added link to Chronology of Personal Computers (a general site about micro-computer history), and Great Microprocessors of the Past and Present (dealing specifically with the microprocessors that run those computers).
• Added info to Chapter 14 that further clarifies the origins of Apple DOS 3.0.
• Changed links and logo from Hypermall to foreThought.net
• Added a Palm Doc version of the History for download
• Added info to Chapter 14 that clarified the version numbering of the original Apple DOS 3.0 (thanks to Paul Laughton)
• Updated the links list by adding new ones and removing outdated ones
• Updated the link to Andy Molloy's "Apple Computer Reading List" web page
• Updated my e-mail address

Thursday, August 6, 1998

• Corrected the number of bytes in a gigabyte in Chapter 3 (thanks to Wayne Pearson for pointing that one out!)
• Added an example of an Apple Writer 1.0 screen (inverse and normal text) in Chapter 18.
• Added an example of an early VisiCalc screen, in Chapter 18.
• Fixed the font size and typeface in the Apple I ad and Apple II flyer, as well as removing the forced line breaks (which properly reproduced the original documents, but did not properly display on some browers).

Sunday, July 5, 1998

• Cleaned up some of the HTML text, particularly tables that were not displaying properly in some circumstances.
• The four appendices, part of the original Apple II History, have now been converted to HTML and added here for your viewing pleasure.
• Updates that were originally done for the GEnie Lamp version of the History have been added here. These are changes made to Chapters 11, and 19 through 21. This brings the history up to about January 1994.
• Some more linking was done within the history HTML files, to link between the documents more effectively, and make it more consistent with the concept of hypertext.
• Added the downloads section, to allow offline reading of the entire history.
• Appendix C, the genealogy, has been fixed to more accurately represent the dates of the various Macintosh models that were released during the Apple II era.
• Added HTML reproductions of an original Apple I advertisement flyer, and of a pre-release flyer for the motherboard-only version of the Apple II that was briefly sold before the well-known beige case version was available.
• Song parodies I've written about the Apple II (generally related to the history).
• Index of hyperlinks used in theses web documents.

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