October 10th, 2008
The Apple II is baaaaccckk (via emulator)
In the Friday nostalgia department, TechRepublic’s John Sheesley has unearthed an emulator for the Apple II. All you need is a browser and you’re off to memory lane.
Unlike the TRS-80 Model I Basic emulator page, the Virtual Apple site doesn’t use a Java machine. Instead, it uses an Active X control if you’re using IE or an extension if you’re using Firefox. As such, running it is a little more dangerous than the Model I site, but the Virtual Apple site claims to be spyware free. I loaded it on a test machine and it didn’t seem to cause any problems, but if you’re worried about or if your organization doesn’t allow Active X, you may want to try a different machine.
The Virtual Apple site doesn’t emulate a full Apple II. Instead, what it does is load up custom images of old Apple II programs. Virtual Apple has taken old Apple II programs and converted them to loadable disk images that work within the Active X controls. They claim to have over 1250 programs online now and are adding more regularly.
Overall, it’s pretty sweet.
Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and Editorial Director of ZDNet sister site TechRepublic. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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