80-column chat
Streams the model’s reply as 80-column text, with 128 lines of scrollback. The chat log is stored on disk as a text file.
ProDOS 8 · Uthernet II
A chat client that writes Applesoft back to disk
A2CHAT is an AI chat client for the 8-bit enhanced Apple II. An Apple IIgs works as well. It talks HTTP to an Ollama host on your LAN, or through the Olla proxy, streams the reply in 80 columns, and can read and write files on a ProDOS disk.
What it does
Read and write files
Sends a program or notes to the model, and saves the reply as BAS, TXT, or BIN. Applesoft is detokenized before it is sent. A2CHAT can write the tokenized Applesoft file directly to disk.
Applesoft context
A context file helps AI models generate correct Applesoft code. It is sent when A2CHAT connects to a host.
Ollama or Olla
Talks to Ollama on your LAN, or to the Olla proxy when you want a path to other AI services.
Runs at 1 MHz
On a 1 MHz Apple IIe or IIc, A2CHAT writes to the screen faster than most people can read, if the AI host can generate tokens that fast.
Current release
v1.3 moves HTTP onto the Uthernet II’s hardware TCP socket, so the Apple no longer runs that work in
software. Screen updates and JSON parsing were tightened too, which means less work for each byte that
arrives. Disk images are a2chat-v1.3.po and a2chat-v1.3.hdv.
What you need
Apple
Enhanced IIe, IIc, or IIc Plus with a 65C02, 80-column firmware, and 128K. An Apple IIgs works as well. ProDOS 8 on the boot volume. A floppy is enough; a SmartPort drive such as MegaFlash, FujiNet, or FloppyEmu is faster because the chat log is written to disk.
Uthernet II (WIZnet W5100). On an IIe the card can sit in any slot; auto-scan tries slot 3 first. If an
accelerator moved the card, set SLOT= in the config. On an IIc or IIc Plus, MegaFlash exposes
Uthernet II in slot 4. A stock IIc without MegaFlash cannot network.
Ollama or Olla
Ollama listening on the LAN, not only on localhost, or an Olla proxy on the LAN with a connection to an
internal or external AI host. The model name in A2CHAT.CFG (MODEL=) has to match
a model you have pulled, for example llama3.2:3b.
A2CHAT has no DNS. HOST= must be a dotted address such as 192.168.0.111, and the
Apple and the host must be on the same IPv4 subnet.