Mastodon will run on an ancient Apple IIe, if you try hard enough

Apple IIc running Mastodon (Source: Colin Leroy-Mira)

It's 35 years since the Apple IIc was discontinued, so now even though the Apple II range is what made the company, you only ever see this model in auctions. Some owners, though, are even now finding new uses for the stalwart antique.

Such as Colin Leroy-Mira from Toulouse, France, who has made a Mastodon client.

"If you're interested in retro computing, you may be happy to read that I've made a binary release of my Mastodon client for the Apple II," writes Leroy-Mira in a blog post. "It's been tested on an Apple //c, hence its name, and I suppose it will work on a ][e with a language card."

However much work Leroy-Mira had to put in to create this, though, it seems like the biggest problem now is physically getting his code onto an Apple II.

Even he doesn't give full instructions, directing people to other guides for an app called ADTPro, which sends his floppy disk image to the Apple II. You also need an Raspberry Pi, and a couple of serial cable adapters.

"After this, everything should work," he writes, before quoting some of the reactions he's had.

"I will never use this and yet I love that it exists", says one. "Absolutely pointless, beautiful work here," is another.

Separately, if making this work isn't challenge enough, though, you could also go further and download the whole Apple II source code.