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Flickr Find: Digital Steve Jobs on a bookshelf
We just love it when someone uploads a photo to Flickr that not only pays homage to the late co-founder of Apple, Steve Jobs, but also demonstrates vividly how much some of us like to keep our old Apple equipment and books. Blake Patterson (@blakespot) took this photo on October 7, 2011 -- just two days after Jobs passed away. This Apple //c is displaying a ghostly green monochrome image of Jobs, rendered in Applesoft BASIC line by glowing line with a program by Chris Baird from the A2Central.com IRC chat. A look at the A2Central website indicates that there's still a thriving community of Apple II fans, so if you still have working hardware, there are a lot of people who are willing to help you keep it running.
Apple II Digital Music Synthesizer available now for 8-bit die-hards
The last time we had occasion to feature 8 Bit Weapon in this space, our man Seth had hacked his Nintendo Power Pad into a music controller. Now the team is back with something a little less strenuous -- but no less musical -- for all of you budding chiptune artists out there. The Digital Music Synthesizer for Apple II is a wavetable synthesizer designed specifically for live performance. Not only does this bad boy come with ten voices (including bass, trumpet, square wave, sawtooth wave, and sine wave), but sequences can be recorded for a later time. But wait, there's more -- there is no monitor required. If you've ever had to lug an Apple II monitor to a dank performance space on a weeknight (and who hasn't?), you understand what a sweet setup this is. Supports your Apple IIe, IIc, IIc+, or IIgs computer with 80-column capability and at least one 5.25" floppy disk drive. Get yours now for $19.95 -- but not before checking out the demo after the break.
Flickr Find: Apple IIc unboxing
Like geeks everywhere, here at TUAW we like unboxing pics. But unboxing shots from an original Apple IIc? Now that's Apple fan candy! This Apple IIc was recently purchased on eBay and had never been opened before. The lucky buyer posted this Flickr set of the ritual. I particularly love the old rainbow Apple stickers! [via Digg]
Apple IIc as a serial terminal to a Mac Mini
Hot on the heels of the Apple IIe-into-a-Linux-terminal tutorial we posted the other day, here's another mix of retro and modern-- Byte Cellar has hooked up an old Apple IIc (or //c if you spin that way) to work as a terminal to a Mac Mini. It's pretty neat-- sounds like they frankensteined the IIc's serial port to a USB connection, put ModemMGR on the IIc (which is three whole floppies), and now are using the old "luggable" as an IRC client, which is a perfect use for it, and, as Blake says, makes it feel "great to twiddle the //c's keys in a meaningful way every workday."There's also a photo gallery of the whole setup, which shows the spliced cable, as well as the whole setup in all its glory (yeah the XP box mars it a bit, but no one's perfect). Very cool. Makes me wish I still had one of those old clunky Apple IIs, if only to run IRC as it's mean to be run-- with nothing but green text on a black screen.[via Digg]
Rig of the Day: Apple //c
TUAW reader and Flickr user superpixel* has posted this great shot of an Apple//c, complete with one of those tiny, green-on-black monitors. I used to have one of these displays, but not the computer to go with it."Apple 2c" posted by superpixel.For the month of April, the theme for our Rig of the Day will be "Vintage Macs" in honor of Apple's anniversary. If you'd like to see your own rig featured here, simply upload photos into our group Flickr pool. Let's see your vintage Macs (Apples and Newtons, too)! We'll select an image every day to highlight.*The so-called "superpixel" is actually TUAW's own Victor Agreda, Jr.
