How to make a maximally compatible Integer BASIC (Apple II) game disk for the Internet Archive?

Question

I'd like to get an old Apple II Integer BASIC game running on archive.org's embedded MAME in such a way that it just runs without the user having to choose anything from a menu or type any commands to get it started.

This ought to simply be a matter of naming the game HELLO in CiderPress and setting the MAME emulator to apple2 on archive.org (i.e. original Apple, which has IB). Unfortunately apple2 stopped working on their flaky MAME emulator setup, so the disk needs to work on apple2e or apple2ee (enhanced), which both seem to be better supported and more commonly used on archive.org.

Secondary goal is for it work regardless of which specific Apple II in the series is being used or emulated (so anyone can download the disk image and use it easily regardless of their emulator setup or hardware, and so it can switch easily when archive.org supports apple2 again.

Is there some way to easily set up a disk to boot an Integer Basic program regardless of Apple II? Seems like a simple thing but all the examples I've looked at use a catalog program or require the user to manually run something, etc.

Answer 1

Is there some way to easily set up a disk to boot an Integer Basic program regardless of Apple II?

Only if that Apple is equipped with a language card, as DOS can quite well simply run an Integer BASIC program as Autostart.

• Boot into DOS 3.3
• Switch to Integer BASIC (INT)
• Load your Integer BASIC game
• Initialize a new disk with your game (INIT <gamename>) (*1)
• Add the Integer BASIC Image INTBASIC to that disk

Done.

DOS 3.3 recognizes the language to be used when loading/running a program and switch accordingly or load (if possible) the desired language. This is done by looking at the file type (A or I).

The advantage of this method is that it'll work with any setup of any II/IIe/IIe, independent of what language (INT or FP) is in Main-ROM or in a Firmware-Card (FP or INT) or if a language card needs to be filled first (with INT).

For more details on the selection process for languages see this answer.

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And yes, one can as well use some Applesoft autostart (HELLO) program to load Integer BASIC, then start an EXEC file which switches to INT (Executing INT from inside an Applesoft program leads to a lesson abut pulling the rug beneath your feet:)) and RUN the integer BASIC program. But serious, why going all that length when DOS already includes all necessary tools - not to mention that the this disk will only boot satisfying on a machine with Applesoft present.

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*1 - When wanting to boot from a different memory configuration you may need to use a copy of a master disk and add your program (using "HELLO" as name) by hand.

Answer 2

To make a disk that starts up directly into an Integer BASIC program on a system with Applesoft in ROM and a language card (][+, //e, etc), do this:

1. Make a copy of the DOS 3.3 System Master disk. Delete everything except HELLO, INTBASIC, and (if present) LOADER.OBJ0.
2. Modify the HELLO program to run the Integer BASIC program. For the 1980 System Master, change line 240 from END to PRINT CHR$(4)"RUN <program>". For the 1983 System Master, which doesn't have a line 240, replace line 100 (PRINT CHR$(4);"FP") instead. The idea here is just to replace the line that ends the program with one that runs the game.

To allow it to work on an original Apple ][, with Integer BASIC in ROM and no language card, add a trivial Integer program called APPLESOFT that runs the program (i.e. 10 PRINT "<ctrl+D>RUN <program>"). DOS will run APPLESOFT if you try to load an Applesoft program when Applesoft BASIC is not available.

The runs-on-anything version should look like this, using the ANIMALS program as a test case with the 1980 System Master disk:

I tested the disk image with AppleWin, using the "Enhanced Apple //e" and "Apple ][ (Original)" configurations.