Latecomer

An Apple II demo released at REVISION 2019 by fenarinarsa

Party version 20/04/2019
Final version 17/07/2019
Final v2 28/04/2022

music: Big Alec/Delta Force
code: Fenarinarsa, Grouik/French Touch
gfx: Made/bomb, Raccoon

Web (download the build here)
https://fenarinarsa.com/latecomer

Twitter
https://twitter.com/fenarinarsa

Mastodon
https://shelter.moe/@fenarinarsa

Build instructions

You'll need the following tools:

• ACME Cross-Assembler
• AppleCommander
• make (the GNU/Linux tool)
• DirectWrite (for trackload version) available here http://fr3nch.t0uch.free.fr/

To install make on Windows, use chocolatey and type choco install make
Check Makefile for some directions. Change the paths to where you installed the tools above, then type make to generate the disk image.
The default target also runs AppleWin at the end of the build process but that's optional.

Missing tools

The FYM format is an optimized YM format based on a recreated partition by analyzing patterns contained in a YM file. It uses only Packbits (RLE-like) compression. The generator is coded in C#, I will post it later.

HGR files can be edited with the wonderful Grafx2 http://grafx2.chez.com

The small tools to cut the .hgr files and generate the .bin graphic data are not provided.

Source description

• dotwaves.a - Sinewaves effect
• dotwaves_debug.a - Sinewaves debug mode
• HELLO.bas - main loader (loader entry point)
• loader.a - Moves some data upper in memory
• main.a - Demo entry point
• player.a - FYM player, 3-channels with stereo reverb
• player2.a - FYM player, 3-channels mono (a bit faster)
• roto.a - Rotozoomer
• scrolltext.a - HGR scrolltext
• starfield.a - HGR starfield
• tools.a - Various functions

The demo

Huge thanks to GROUIK/FRENCH TOUCH for releasing the source code for his demos under GPL
Huge thanks to BIG ALEC for allowing me to use his wonderful tune from the Punish Your Machine demo (Atari ST)

This is my first real 8-bits release.
I bought an Apple IIc in 2018 to dump my old floppy disks with the BASIC programs I did when I was a kid.
Then I started exploring the 6502 and found the French Touch source archive... and voila, a demo!

I hope you enjoy it anyway.

Requirements

6502 CPU
128k RAM
Mockingboard 2 or Mockingboard 4c

Apple IIc PAL
Apple IIc NTSC (untested on real hardware, will generate tearing)
Apple IIe PAL
Apple IIe NTSC (untested on real hardware, will generate tearing)

It really looks better on a PAL machine because the first part locks on a 50Hz sync.
Also the end graphic looks better on a Le Chat Mauve RGB card because I asked
Made/bomb to use this card's color palette (where for instance GREY1 != GREY2)

Best setups to watch this demo:
Apple IIe, PAL, Mockingboard, Le Chat Mauve EVE or Féline RGB card
Apple IIc, PAL, Mockingboard 4c, Le Chat Mauve RGB adapter

final > final v2 changelog

• 6502 compatibility, now runs on any Apple IIe
• trackload version available (no more ProDOS, very fast loading!)

Party > Final changelog

• Better compatibility, now should work on NTSC IIc
• Mockingboard slot detection
• Many bugfixes
• Buffer overflows corrected, should fix some hardware crashes
• Added sinewaves debug mode (see below)
• Fixed missing characters in the scrolltext
• Improved greetings part
• Improved rotozoom with new graphics
• Improved endscreen in DLGR
• The demo loops after a few seconds

Sinewaves debug mode

When the first dots appear, press any key. The demo will not continue.
You enter the debug mode where you can change the eight parameters
with the following keys:
AZERTYUI (+)
QSDFGHJK (-)
Space => reset parameters to zero
Return => switch to fullscreen