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Apple Businesses

Contiki for Internet-enabled Apple II 43

indyV writes "Most of you probably remember the Contiki OS which previously have been used to Internet-enable both the Commodore 64 and the 8-bit Atari. This video shows the brand new Apple II Contiki port in action, booting up on an Apple IIe and surfing to www.apple2.org. The network connection was made with a specially crafted Ethernet adapter."
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Contiki for Internet-enabled Apple II

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  • by Kris_J ( 10111 ) *
    Now, if they'd just fix the web downloader on the C64 port that'd be cooler.
  • ][c ? (Score:3, Informative)

    by colinleroy ( 592025 ) on Thursday June 03, 2004 @03:08AM (#9323325) Homepage
    From what I understand, that ethernet adapter can't be plugged to an Apple ][c, which doesn't have extensions ports, if I'm not mistaken.
    Too bad that's the model I have, I'll still have to setup serial transfer if I want to upload stuff on this...
    • Re:][c ? (Score:1, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Not ][c.. //c is the way they wrote it:

      Apple ][
      Apple ][+
      Apple IIe
      Apple //c
      Apple IIgs
      Mac II
      • Re:][c ? (Score:5, Informative)

        by bjb ( 3050 ) * on Thursday June 03, 2004 @07:55AM (#9324436) Homepage Journal
        Actually, you could debate the official way of writing the 'e' version.
        • The original ROM displayed "Apple ][" on boot (1983-1985).
        • The enhanced ROM displayed "Apple //e" on boot (1985-1992).
        • The original badge on the machine was "//e" (1983-1987).
        • The revised machine's badge (platinum) was "IIe" (1987-1992).

        I always felt that it was better as "//e". But then again, this is a totally geeked out topic, and I might as well get back to my life now :-)

    • Re:][c ? (Score:5, Funny)

      by fm6 ( 162816 ) on Thursday June 03, 2004 @05:03AM (#9323751) Homepage Journal
      So go out and buy a ][ or ][e. Probably cost you less than the ethernet adapter...
      • Re:][c ? (Score:3, Funny)

        by colinleroy ( 592025 )
        Well, your point is valid but I can't do that. The IIc I have is my first computer ever, the one I learned BASIC with at the age of 9. I really can't toss this computer away just for an ethernet adapter :)
        • Re:][c ? (Score:3, Informative)

          by capmilk ( 604826 )
          Why should you toss the //c? Buy a IIe as well. You can not have too many Apples, can you?
          • You can not have too many Apples, can you?

            Beg to differ... at least my wife would. I have approximately a dozen IIgses, and at least that many older IIs (II+ to IIe platinum) as well as a number of monitors, keyboards, etc. Saved them from the dump. Plan to start selling them off one of these days...

          • Why should you toss the //c
            Because I actually have a girlfriend, and 4 computers (2 of them are servers in a cupboard). More wouldn't please her.
    • Re:][c ? (Score:3, Informative)

      by LWATCDR ( 28044 )
      What about making an ethernet to ppp converter?
      The new eZ80 acclaim has an ethernet port and TCP/IP stack. An other option would be to use the AVR version of Contiki and and AVR chip to hack one. Ues it would be easier to just use a pc and a null modem cable but not nearly as much fun.
  • by baryon351 ( 626717 ) on Thursday June 03, 2004 @03:21AM (#9323366)
    I don't know about anyone else, but that video damned near frightened the life out of me.

    For those who haven't seen, it's a camcorder recorded screen of an Apple II booting. Looking at it, I could see a guy's head moving in the background.

    Now, since I live alone and there's not meant to be anyone behind me, first thing I did was look behind me to my left and raise my arms in defense.

    Thank you slashdot, for the 160bpm heartrate. I'm nearly normal now.
    • No Doubt (Score:5, Funny)

      by Atomizer ( 25193 ) on Thursday June 03, 2004 @04:01AM (#9323549)
      The same thing happened to me. I was wondering how the killer with the knife behind could be so damn quiet. It's 2:00 AM here, and that scared the crap out of me. It's worse than those animated gifs you stare at for 20 seconds, before a "ghost" shows up for 2 frames.
    • Hm, did you watch it fullscreen or something? I saw the reflection of the head, but didn't care much about it.
    • The video doesn't play at all on my Windows XP box. Just gives me an unknown error. Is there some voodoo that I must do?
      • Actually, it doesn't play on my Mac either - Quicktime has not the codec for the AVI. Can anyone actually watch this thing?
        • Same here -- no can play. It seems a bit silly to create an Apple related video and then distribute in a format that an Apple can't play natively.

          What software do I need to play this? Yes, I'm a new Mac user. Be kind.
      • This reminds me of that Star Trek where Data is investigating humor, and he's up on stage and anything he does makes the audience laugh, because they are programmed to laugh.
      • Tne video is in divx format. I played it using VLC [videolan.org] media player. It is a sweet little opensource media player that will play divx out of the box.
        • Thank you. This looks nice indeed. It's good to have a simple app in my /Applications folder that can be removed without worrying about it having stored things in other places. The DivX player from divx.com, mentioned earlier, seems to put stuff in /Library/QuickTime and that wasn't removed when I dragged the DivX player to the Trash.
  • Wow (Score:5, Funny)

    by black mariah ( 654971 ) on Thursday June 03, 2004 @03:35AM (#9323427)
    This is the dorkiest damn thing I've ever heard of. It takes a certain kind of boredom to do something as incredibly fucking stupid as this, and for that I salute the developers. ;)
    • Re:Wow (Score:5, Interesting)

      by capmilk ( 604826 ) on Thursday June 03, 2004 @03:55AM (#9323520)
      Other incredibly smeggin' stupid things were done with East German KC 85 computers [zock.com]:

      - RAM was increased from 64KB to 2MB.
      - Hard disks were added.
      - Ethernet was added.

      And since the floppy drive had the same U880D cpu as the main machine:
      - multiprocessig was added.

      How cool is that? :)

    • The sad thing is... (Score:2, Interesting)

      by EXrider ( 756168 )
      The ethernet adaptor's chipset runs at a higher clock speed than the Apple ]['s CPU.
    • I couldn't have been more impressed with the VNC server [www.sics.se] for the OS [sic].

      Man, that's a sic and a sick. Impressive stuff. That's enough for me to really start jones'n to build that ethernet port on a breadboard and give it a shot.

      Use your Apple IIe from nearly any box connected by broadband from anywhere in the world. Man, the 21st century rocks! ;^)
    • Re:Wow (Score:3, Informative)

      The dorkiest thing you've ever heard of? Welcome, first time slashdot visitor...

      Some people enjoy this kind of thing. Let them have their fun. I'm sure there's something equally dorky that you enjoy.

      Personally, I get a kick out of programming an 8-bit processor with a whopping 256-byte address space. It's a thrill to get anything working.

  • Slow typing (Score:5, Funny)

    by dozer ( 30790 ) on Thursday June 03, 2004 @03:48AM (#9323489)
    I loved my ][e. The indestructable keyboard sure wasn't finger-friendly though. That's got to be the reason they guy in the video is typing so e x c r u c i a t i n g l y . s l o w l y . . .
  • by innerlimit ( 593217 ) on Thursday June 03, 2004 @07:58AM (#9324457)
    that reminds us of wat can be done with relatively low-spec systems, and that SO MUCH MORE could be done with current processing power.

    but of course, hardware being so diverse as it is, programming for 1 platform just isn't feasable any longer
    • Imagine a Beowulf cluster of these things!!!!
    • by pilgrim23 ( 716938 ) on Thursday June 03, 2004 @02:15PM (#9328600)
      Hard core Apple II enthusiasts out here find these projects fascinating. Speaking as a long time Apple II fanatic and someone who purchased Joachim Lange's LANceGS ethernet card (referred to in the link), and an almost daily user of the OTHER TCP/IP effort on the Apple II (yes, there is more then one!) Marinetti, this is a way cool project! You can surf the web on an Apple II (I know of 2 browsers), use FTP (again, at least 2 clients), telnet (last count 4 different clients and growing), an IRC client, and even more! Here are the specs on my Apple II screamer: Apple IIgs ROM3 with 5mbs main memory (1 on motherboard, 4mb on memory slot), a TranswarpGS at 6mhz CPU accelerator; Slots: 1: Vulcan IDE card on a 120mb Vulcan Gold Hard Drive/Power Supply, 2: Apple 1024kb "Slinky" Memory card (also switchable to Appletalk for filesharing on intranet) 3: TranswarpGS, 4: scanner card 5: Apple "Superdrive" card for 1.44mb Floppy access. 6: ComputerEyes card for video capture, (switchable to 5.25 floppy controller for the occasional old game), 7 LANceGS ethernet card. Apple ][ FOREVER!
      • (1) i assume you have dig up vulcan drives and transwarp cards from the used bin as AE has been long out of business
        (2) why do you need a separate 5.25" controller when there's afloppy port on the back of the machine?
        • Well actually... 1. Yes I got the Vulcan and the Transwarp from different scrounging. Both were dysfunctional and in both cases chip replacements were needed to repair. I also had the ROM (GASP! I cloned a ROM!!PIRACY!)from my "Gold" Vulcan card copied so I could then install it on a "Black" Vulcan card I also have so I could get greater then 20mb drives on that early IDE technology controller. I am still trying to upgrade the 8k cache on the Transwarp to 32k so it can compliment the 14mhz '816 I instal
  • by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 03, 2004 @02:12PM (#9328565)
    Okay guys, it's been almost 20 years and I'm finally here! I just put this bitchin' mod on my Apple IIe. Wait till you can do video over the net, I can't wait to show it to you.
  • by SillyWilly ( 692755 ) on Friday June 04, 2004 @09:30AM (#9334521) Homepage
    255.255.255.9? :p

    If I knew that the video of me making a mistake like that was going to end up on Slashdot I'd re-record it :)
    • No, that was intentional - you're obviously not a filmmaker :-)

      This video is perfect! It's got it all:
      - suspense (you know the web page will load, but when)
      - drama (why is the typing so slow?!)
      - conflict (will it be 0 or 9 for the mask? Surely Zero must win!)
      - scare value (lookout behind you! it got me, too)
      - Climax (just when you think it'll load, you realize that the [GO] button is an extra step)
      - A happy ending

      and lastly
      - hidden bonus material (did you catch the CONTIKIJ messup at the start?)
  • I'd be impressed if this thing had a GUI. After all, Apple themselves ported the Finder from the Mac to the Apple IIgs, as can be seen in this screenshot:

    http://apple2history.org/museum/screenshots/a2gs fi nder.html

    Of course, that was a IIgs, which is certainly faster. But still...

Truly simple systems... require infinite testing. -- Norman Augustine

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