I gave two presentations at KansasFest 2011, the first an introduction to the Logo programming language and the second a survey of small turtle robots contemporary with the Apple II. Ken Gagne recorded the presentations and has kindly made the videos available. Turtle Robots LOGO: History and Programming
Archive of posts tagged kansasfest
HackFest 2011
KansasFest 2011 is over, and it was awesome. My HackFest theme this year was “learn new stuff.” I used an enhanced Apple IIe that I didn’t own until the first day of KansasFest. I used an RC System’s DoubleTalk speech synthesizer for the first time. I used and learned Terrapin Logo 1.0 for the first time, [...]
Open Apple podcast
I’m “Internet famous” on episode 3 of the Open Apple podcast, the premier Apple II podcast. Thanks to Ken Gagne and Mike Maginnis for the invitation. This month features KansasFest, edutainment software, and much more! I already look forward to the next episode.
KansasFest 2011 Countdown NDA
April is a good month for the Apple II. KansasFest registration opens. Juiced.GS ships a new issue in beautiful color. Open-Apple ought to release a new podcast soon. Brain Boards ship. Briel’s MP3 player for the Apple II is coming soon. What’s next? How about an NDA, or New Desk Accessory, for GS/OS that counts [...]
Macrosoft at KansasFest 2010
I presented a tutorial introduction at KansasFest 2010 on the Mindcraft Macrosoft programming language, a macro assembler package that allows the programmer to achieve machine language speed with a high-level Applesoft BASIC-like syntax. Macrosoft and its companion Assembler run on you favorite 8-bit Apple II. The presentation was well received, and several people left motivated [...]
KansasFest 2010 HackFest
My KansasFest 2010 HackFest entry with source code is now available for your enjoyment. This entry took second place behind Martin’s Wizardy crack. I used Complete Pascal 2.0 with Pegasoft Draw Tools 3.1, both of which are freely available, to create my first 16-bit Apple II program. The program displays pictures from KansasFest and asks related [...]
Hackfest Day 2
There are just so many fabulous things to see and do at KansasFest that Hackfest has not gotten much attention! Where else do you get to see the worst Apple product and a disk operating system almost twice as fast as ProDOS? I want to include full-screen bitmapped images in my entry, and I’m figuring out [...]
Hackfest Day 1
The annual KansasFest HackFest is on! I’ve heard rumors of Wizardy cracking and a Rockhurst text adventure. I’m learning Complete Pascal, learning IIGS toolbox programming, and, just in case I run out of things to do, using those skills to write a graphical Apple II/KFest trivia adventure. I have Complete Pascal running and am ready [...]
Mark Simonsen of Beagle Bros to keynote KansasFest 2010
From KansasFest: KANSAS CITY, MO — December 22, 2009 — Mark Simonsen, employee number three and later owner of Beagle Bros, will be the keynote speaker at KansasFest 2010. At Beagle Bros, whose popular software products for the Apple II hobbyist demonstrated the publisher’s quirky sense of humor, Mark developed software including Flex Type, Beagle BASIC, [...]
Low-Res Life for the Apple II
Wikipedia gives more details, including examples, a more formal definition of the game, and history. I have implemented the game of life for the Apple II computer using the low-resolution (40×40) video mode and the Macrosoft macro language. Macrosoft is a library of assembler macros that produce assembly language code. I chose this language because [...]