Re: KansasFest 2012 Report

[Kirk Mitchell <kirkmitchell@gmail.com>]

*sigh*
Today was the last day.  I hate to see it end, but I could use the sleep.

Our first session was by Steve Weyhrich who did a great job summarizing the history of Apple II magazines.  I remember well the year 1984 when so many of my favorite magazines folded,  I still miss them, but appreciate the efforts of archivers who are scanning past issues and making them available once again.

Ken Gagne explained Kickstarter, and the best strategy to follow to be successful.  We brainstormed a theoretical project (a VGA card for the Apple II or perhaps a USB card... I hadn't had my minimum daily requirement of caffeine yet and can't remember), and worked on a plan to make it so.

Tony Diaz brought out part of his enormous treasure of Apple II hardware, and discussed the best means of recognizing and acquiring such treasures ourselves.

After lunch, Geoff Weiss did a session on NiftyList, and walked us through its many useful features.  Pretty technical, but essential for the IIgs programmer.

Juiced.GS was the center of the next session, and Ken Gagne announced the continued publication of this wonderful Apple II news source.  Check out the website at:  http://juiced.gs/ and visit the store to see the new products Ken is making available, particularly the high quality PDF files of all the earlier issues.

The Apple II Exhibition Hall/ Swap Meet/ and Vendor's Fair was up next, and the conference room was packed with goodies!  I make it a point to leave here with less than I came with, although it's always been my wallet that gets lighter.  My bookshelves will suffer when I get home, and it was a struggle to leave the freebie hardware items for others to take home.  I'm already a bit of a hoarder in that respect.  We even had area Apple II fans come to this free portion of KFest!

While we were at the swap meet, our HackFest judges were cornering and interrogating 7 participants and poking and prodding  their products.  There were some great efforts, and I'm proud to say, my Roomie, Jeremy Rand walked away with the top prize for his Curta Rotary Calculator simulation.  I suppose it helped that he brought an actual one with him.

We were then off to Lidia's, a swanky Italian restaurant.  Good times!

Many folks left there to go see the Batman movie, but there are still lots of us still running around here, chatting, packing and preparing ourselves for the horror of a year of no KFest, and anticipating next years.  I did want to thank Ewen Wannop for his reclassification of his software for this years KFest.  I've already purchased most everything he's offered, but if you haven't you are in for a treat!

That's about a wrap.  I'm certainly hoping to see this trend of new faces showing up and sharing this experience continue!  Even if I have to stifle the occasional "You Kids get off my Lawn!"

I hope to see more of you next year!

Kirk