Questions tagged [apple-dos]

for questions about the Apple DOS operating system used on the Apple II series of microcomputers

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How Can Apple II DOS 3.3 Floppy Disks be Restored after Formatting with INIT?

I have files on around 50 5.25" floppy disks. Most are in the Apple II (or ][ Plus), DOS 3.3 formats. I have the Apple ][+ with 64K RAM (48K on MBd plus 16K on the Language Card in Slot 0), and ...
JTyler2's user avatar
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3 votes
0 answers
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Did any DOS 3.3 variants relocate start of BASIC?

A common annoyance when programming in BASIC on the Apple II is that 6K of BASIC storage area falls before the start of the first hires screen, with another big chunk of storage falling after it. On ...
supercat's user avatar
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9 votes
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How to change what program Apple ProDOS 'starts' when booting

I finally have my Apple //e booting from my SCSI2SD but I'm missing something regarding how ProDOS knows what program to start when it boots. As I understand it, ProDOS will look for the first .SYSTEM ...
Geo...'s user avatar
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11 votes
1 answer
802 views

What exactly was the intent and implementation of Apple DOS 3.3's volume concept?

Inspired by this question, it got me thinking about how DOS 3.3 for the Apple II had the 'DISK VOLUME 254' at the top of every CATALOG listing. The default was always 254, but you could make your ...
bjb's user avatar
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9 votes
1 answer
225 views

What is the VTOC format for an AppleDOS disk with more than 50 tracks?

I am trying to read files of an AppleDOS 3.3 disk. The documentation I've found, both from Inside AppleDOS and also from Archiveteams' website (which I believe was taken from Inside AppleDOS): http://...
David Given's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
296 views

Motivation for DOS 3.3 using I/O hooks rather than ampersand-hook

AppleSoft BASIC is designed so that if it encounters an ampersand while processing a program, it will jump to address $03F5, allowing code there to examine what follows and process it suitably. While ...
supercat's user avatar
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6 votes
2 answers
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6502 Assembly on Apple IIe: GETLN fails with 'syntax error' under ProDOS

I'm writing a text adventure in assembly for the Apple IIe (using Merlin). I'm also using ProDOS 8 v2.0.3. At some point, I have a subroutine to read user input from the keyboard using the GETLN1 call....
Taciano Dreckmann Perez's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
224 views

What determines the amount of space occupied by an Applesoft BASIC program?

I've been writing an Applesoft BASIC program over the last few months or so (IIgs and IIe, ProDOS 2.4.2 with BASIC.SYSTEM v1.6). My large BASIC program was sitting at something like 51 ProDOS blocks. ...
user22121's user avatar
4 votes
2 answers
439 views

Was the ProDOS beep part of the kernel or just a commonly duplicated piece of code?

On the Apple II, system beeps were typically just the 'Control-G' beep noise. However, many ProDOS-based applications from Apple Computer abandoned the firmware-based beep routine and instead used a ...
bjb's user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
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Converting Apple II ProDOS blocks to DOS tracks and sectors

The 8-bit Apple II had two disk operating systems with different disk access semantics. DOS used tracks and sectors. A sector is 256 bytes. ProDOS used blocks. A block is 512 bytes. But mapping ...
hippietrail's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
170 views

Where can I find original Apple DOS 3.3 System Master diskette images?

The original Apple DOS 3.3 was released on 1980-07-25, and there seem to have been at least two more updates after that that did not bump the version number: Two more versions of Apple DOS, both ...
cjs's user avatar
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23 votes
3 answers
5k views

Could you manually eject a floppy quick enough to prevent data loss?

I have the vague recollection of "Panic Ejecting" floppy disks by lifting the latch on the drive after immediately regretting a command I had typed. At the time, I was young, impulsive, and blessed ...
Brian H's user avatar
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5 votes
2 answers
634 views

Where did the "LEVI" file selector/runner for the Apple II DOS 3.3 come from?

There's a fairly common BASIC program for DOS 3.3 on the Apple II that clears the screen, prints a catalog of the disk, and allows you to select files by letter to run or do other operations on them. ...
cjs's user avatar
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14 votes
12 answers
5k views

Late 1970s and 6502 chip facilities for operating systems

I'm quite unfamiliar with how operating systems used to be written but its clear to me that operating systems were clearly written for these systems. I'm particularly interested in how operating ...
Jake's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
434 views

How to transfer file from one disk to another in Apple //e (Applewin)

For the nostalgia, I'm going through Apple Pascal - A Hands-on Approach using AppleWin. There are four disks, pascal0 through pascal3, and for some reason pascal0 is missing a file called SYSTEM....
Marc Adler's user avatar
22 votes
2 answers
2k views

Why did Apple remove booting from external drives in later IIc ROM versions?

Apple II computers don't come with DOS in ROM, but rather need to boot from a floppy disk to make the disk drives usable. The IIc was the first Apple II that came with a built-in disk drive, so ...
tofro's user avatar
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7 votes
2 answers
893 views

How could a 16-sector PROM Apple II access a 13-sector disk?

When the Disk ][ first came out for the Apple II, the PROMs on the interface card only knew how to work with a 13-sector format. Around 1980, the Disk ][ was updated with 16-sector PROMs either for ...
bjb's user avatar
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18 votes
3 answers
2k views

Was Apple DOS 3.3 created because of the Apple III?

I recently read a document which discussed how the Apple III would implement the Apple II emulation mode. On page 20, it goes on about difficulties involved with how the Apple III would have ...
bjb's user avatar
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9 votes
2 answers
298 views

Apple II: ProDOS partitions on floppy disks?

On the Apple II using ProDOS, was it possible to create partitions on a floppy disk? Would it be possible to have two or more partitions on a 140k 5.25" or 800k 3.5" disk? (The question here is not ...
Dale Mahalko's user avatar
  • 3,649
10 votes
1 answer
284 views

Apple II: What type of partition tables were used?

What type of partition table was used with ProDOS? ProDOS (8-bit) version 1.2 was available in January 1983, one year before the Macintosh was released, so it is unclear to me if ProDOS 1.2 used the "...
Dale Mahalko's user avatar
  • 3,649
17 votes
3 answers
1k views

Apple II: DOS 3.3 Virus?

Does anyone know the source of this Apple II DOS 3.3 virus that infected my disks back in the 1990's? I got it from a public domain disk collection that was given to me by a friend, called the ...
Dale Mahalko's user avatar
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10 votes
2 answers
2k views

Apple II / ProDOS: Run binary games without BASIC.SYSTEM?

Is there a way in ProDOS 8, to directly run old DOS 3.3 binary games without loading BASIC.SYSTEM ? Most games never access DOS 3.3 once the program was running, so even though these were never meant ...
Dale Mahalko's user avatar
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18 votes
2 answers
787 views

How many versions of DOS were there for the Apple II and what were the differences?

DOS 3.3 was the most common before ProDOS. How did it differ to DOS 3.2 and what versions were there before that?
nevster's user avatar
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