Re: Pascal and DOS 3.3

[D Finnigan <dog_cow@macgui.com>]

Steven Weyhrich wrote:
> Is there anyone out there who was using an Apple II back when the Pascal
> System was first released? The reason I ask, is it appears that Apple
> Pascal came out in 1979, and DOS 3.3, using the new disk controller ROMs
> and 16-sector disks, did not become available until a year later, in 1980.
> How did people who bought Apple Pascal manage?

It was slightly inconvenient, as they lost the ability to do turn-key DOS
booting that they had gained with their Autostart ROMs.

You probably know this bit, but I'll summarize it anyway. When the Apple
Pascal Language System was released, the current edition of DOS was 3.2.
Apple Pascal of course used 16-sector formatted disks, and DOS 3.2 used
13-sector disks.

When Apple users bought the Language system, they received an Apple Language
Card, updated PROMs for their Disk II controller, and the associated
diskettes.

The Apple Language Card added the Autostart ROM to any existing standard II
systems that still had the Old Monitor ROM on the motherboard.

The updated PROMs were to be replaced on the Disk II controller card. These
were the state machine and the boot ROM. Interestingly enough, while the
boot ROM was fixed for 16-sector disks, the state machine PROM could be used
with both 13 and 16-sector disks.

At this point, the Apple II user could flip on his Apple II system and
insert a Pascal disk to automatically boot it. If he were to insert any of
his 13-sector DOS 3.2 disks, he would be met with disappointment: they would
not boot at all.

The solution is the BASICS disk. This disk is formatted for 16-sectors and
what it would do was to load a 13-sector copy of the Disk II boot ROM into
the Apple's RAM. This RAM copy would be used instead of the firmware on the
controller card to boot 13-sector diskettes.

As Mr. Nickolas had already remarked, the BASICS disk could also load the
other version of BASIC not present on the motherboard into the Language Card
RAM.

Disclaimer: I was not around when all of this was necessary. I merely happen
to have experience with all the hardware and manuals which describe the
process.

-- 
]DF$
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