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Contiki for Internet-enabled Apple II

Posted by pudge on from the just-because dept.

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."

43 comments

  1. Cool by Kris_J · · Score: 1

    Now, if they'd just fix the web downloader on the C64 port that'd be cooler.

  2. ][c ? by colinleroy · · Score: 2, Informative

    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...

    --
    blah
    1. Re:][c ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

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

      Apple ][
      Apple ][+
      Apple IIe
      Apple //c
      Apple IIgs
      Mac II

    2. Re:][c ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Apple ][ = Apple 2 = Apple II. All the same thing

    3. Re:][c ? by fm6 · · Score: 4, Funny

      So go out and buy a ][ or ][e. Probably cost you less than the ethernet adapter...

    4. Re:][c ? by colinleroy · · Score: 2, Funny

      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 :)

      --
      blah
    5. Re:][c ? by capmilk · · Score: 2, Informative

      Why should you toss the //c? Buy a IIe as well. You can not have too many Apples, can you?

    6. Re:][c ? by bjb · · Score: 4, Informative
      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 :-)

      --
      Never hit your grandmother with a shovel, for it leaves a bad impression on her mind...
    7. Re:][c ? by mrdogi · · Score: 1
      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...

    8. Re:][c ? by colinleroy · · Score: 1

      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.

      --
      blah
    9. Re:][c ? by LWATCDR · · Score: 2, Informative

      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.

      --
      See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
    10. Re:][c ? by mgs1000 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Girlfriends come and go, but Apple IIs are forever.

  3. Scary video effect by baryon351 · · Score: 5, Funny

    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.

    1. Re:Scary video effect by martingunnarsson · · Score: 1

      Hm, did you watch it fullscreen or something? I saw the reflection of the head, but didn't care much about it.

      --
      Martin
    2. Re:Scary video effect by Profane+MuthaFucka · · Score: 1, Funny

      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?

      --
      Fascism trolls keeping me up every night. When I starts a preachin', he HITS ME WITH HIS REICH!
    3. Re:Scary video effect by djward · · Score: 1

      Actually, it doesn't play on my Mac either - Quicktime has not the codec for the AVI. Can anyone actually watch this thing?

    4. Re:Scary video effect by Profane+MuthaFucka · · Score: 1

      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.

      --
      Fascism trolls keeping me up every night. When I starts a preachin', he HITS ME WITH HIS REICH!
    5. Re:Scary video effect by pmhudepo · · Score: 1

      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.

    6. Re:Scary video effect by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The video is encoded in DivX format. I am not a MacOS user myself, but a quick Google search turns up this. Perhaps could be something?

    7. Re:Scary video effect by pmhudepo · · Score: 1

      Yes, works like a charm. I guess I should have known that ".avi" actually means "DivX", or at least it does so in this case. But why not call these files ".divx"? Strange.

      Thanks for the tip.

    8. Re:Scary video effect by Maxwell309 · · Score: 1

      Tne video is in divx format. I played it using VLC media player. It is a sweet little opensource media player that will play divx out of the box.

      --
      "DRM is like violence: if it doesn't work, use more."
    9. Re:Scary video effect by pmhudepo · · Score: 1

      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.

  4. Wow by black+mariah · · Score: 5, Funny

    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. ;)

    --
    'Standards' in computing only impress those who are impressed by things like 'standards'.
    1. Re:Wow by capmilk · · Score: 4, Interesting
      Other incredibly smeggin' stupid things were done with East German KC 85 computers:

      - 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? :)

    2. Re:Wow by pedantic+bore · · Score: 2, 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.

      --
      Am I part of the core demographic for Swedish Fish?
  5. Slow typing by dozer · · Score: 4, Funny

    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 . . .

  6. No Doubt by Atomizer · · Score: 4, Funny

    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.

  7. It's projects like these... by innerlimit · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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

    --
    The Awful Truth
    1. Re:It's projects like these... by pilgrim23 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      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!

      --
      - Minutus cantorum, minutus balorum, minutus carborata descendum pantorum.
    2. Re:It's projects like these... by proj_2501 · · Score: 1

      (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?

    3. Re:It's projects like these... by pilgrim23 · · Score: 2, Informative

      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 installed so I can then attach a faster oscillator and push to 8 or maybe even 10mhz. ...... 2. In the case of slot 6: I use an Apple "Superdrive" card which is a controller that is specifically designed for the 1.4mb Floppy drive as vs. either the older 5.25 floppy controller (or the built-in Apple IIGS 5.25 controller mapped to slot 6), or the more rare "Liron" 3.5 800kb Apple floppy controller (or again, the built in 800kb controller on slot 5). I have this card in Slot 6 with a old 800k case that has a recovered from a Mac Sony 1.4 mechanism in it. On the GS controller in the back are attached two 800k cases, and one 5.25 case in Daisy Chain configuration. Thus, I Can use either the 1.4 drive or, after a trip to Control Panel, the 5.25. .. One major beauty of "Retro- Computing" as a hobby is that equipment and add-ons that were only available to the filthy rich among us back in the day, now show up at Goodwill and yard sales for pennies. I can FINALLY build the SUPER MACHINE I always wanted.... 20 years too late ;)

      --
      - Minutus cantorum, minutus balorum, minutus carborata descendum pantorum.
  8. The sad thing is... by EXrider · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The ethernet adaptor's chipset runs at a higher clock speed than the Apple ]['s CPU.

    --
    grep -iw skynet /etc/services
  9. Wait!!! by EXrider · · Score: 1

    Imagine a Beowulf cluster of these things!!!!

    --
    grep -iw skynet /etc/services
  10. Think that was geeky -- it serves VNC!! by mactari · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I couldn't have been more impressed with the VNC server 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! ;^)

    --

    It's all 0s and 1s. Or it's not.
  11. Testing Slashdot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    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.

  12. how dare you!? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Score 1!? That's a beowulf cluster joke, man. It's jokes like these that buit this site into what it is today. Mod parent up for old times' sake.

  13. Contiki for internet-enabled Apple II? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I say Contiki for president!

  14. Does it work because of the magic subnet mask? by SillyWilly · · Score: 4, Funny

    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 :)

    --
    Online & Feelin' Fine
    1. Re:Does it work because of the magic subnet mask? by morcheeba · · Score: 1

      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?)

      --
      HIV Crosses Species Barrier... into Muppets
  15. Camcorder video? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    OK, so this is really cool but here is what I don't get.

    They took a computer that can use a TV for a display and they pointed a camera at it. I'm sure these guys had a VCR they could of run the video through!

  16. Not impressed by Guspaz · · Score: 1

    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...