The latest Contiki release candidate has appeared supporting the Apple IIe, Commodore 64 and 128, and Atari 8-bit users, and it supports the relevant Ethernet adapter, should you be planning on adding one or more of these 8-bits to your home network.

The software included will allow you to send and receive e-mails, chat using Internet Relay Chat (IRC) rooms and there's even Twitter software to use and a RSS-feed reader too, so it's a fairly complete package of Internet software for you to try.

The relevant disk images may be obtained from either contiki.cbm8bit.com or www.a2retrosystems.com/downloads.htm To find out more about the Ethernet adapter for the Atari XE/XL, head over to www.atari8ethernet.com, and for the C64/128, you'll need www.jbrain.net and finally the home page at a2retrosystems.com has all of the information you will need for the Apple machine. This is something that I'm keen to get my hands dirty with (at least on the old Commodore), so if I successfully manage to get any of this up and running, I'll let you know via the Micro Mart forums at the usual address.

Currently in progress is a text adventure for the C64 called The Quiet Earth, which is based on a cult 1981 novel and a 1985 science-fiction movie of the same name. Telling the story of a man who wakes up to find himself the lack person on the planet, he goes out to find other survivors and also to fathom out what has happened to the rest of the human race.

This is where the game begins, as you explore the world to find the survivors and save the human race. It will actually be in three parts on its eventual release, with the first part currently undergoing extensive testing and will be available from Arkanix Labs (arkanixlabs.com). To keep apace of this project, head over to tinyurl.com/QuietEarthC64.

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Jonathan Cauldwell is on the verge of releasing his epic 48K Sinclair ZX Spectrum game, which contains over 30 fully-playable mini-games in one production (beating his last record of just 16 in one load with the sublime GameX: The Games Exchange, released in 2006).

The game is sort of an evil typing tutor in which you can only affect, though not directly control, each game that you are faced with. Some of these are based on well-known classics, such as Tapper, chess or Space Invaders, whereas others are a little more obscure. The whole package makes for some rather interesting entertainment, though the rubber keys on the original hardware may make things a little more difficult. One thing's for sure: to cram so much into small a small amount of memory is quite amazing and may even be a world record (though I don't know if one has ever been set).

More news will be announced through Jonathan's official web page at tinyurl.com/j-cauldwell and Cronosoft's site at www.cronosoft.co.uk, so go check it out. Oh, you'll need to look for announcements regarding Utter Tripe, by the way.