Apple ][ forever???

[zxmpj02@hp09.zdv.uni-tuebingen.de (Klaus Syttkus)]

Apple ][ forever?
I have an old Apple ][+ clone and some home-made hardware for it, and
I love this machine. I learned programming and understanding computers
with it and really hate to see that it is becoming more and more useless.
Why?
IMHO the problem lies in a lack of free software:
There does not seem to be a free OS supporting logical drives and special
files which would make it possible to incorporate hardware support into the
operating system. There does not seem to be any free Assembler, C-Compiler
etc. (PLEASE correct me if I'm wrong!)
I tried to get kermit up and running (using a SSC) and had the strong
impression that nobody tried utilities like binscii on a "foreign" OS during
the last few years.
I'm afraid the apple will die very soon if it can not be coupled with other
computers via NFS, telnet, ftp, ...
(Not only as a slave!!)
In Germany nobody seems to be working with an apple ][; most people can
not tell the difference between a mac and an apple.
Is there anything we can do to improve the situation?
Is there any free (i. e. legally downloadable and usable) software which could
be a basis for further development?
Any suggestions? (no flames, please. I know, there is a lot of emotion
involved!)

Regards,
Klaus.