Re: Availability of dos 3.3 system disk

[olcott <olcott@qwest.net>]

Does anyone knoe where to get copies of ALL
of these divergent versions?

Rubywand wrote:

> "Mr. Boffo" writes ...
> >
> > On Fri, 19 Jan 2001 12:04:46 -0600, Rubywand <rubywand@swbell.net>
> > wrote:
> >
> > >olcott writes ...
> > >>
> > >> Does anyone know where I can get a copy
> > >> of the system disk for the most recent release
> > >> of Apple dos 3.3? Does anyone know the date
> > >> of the most recent release of Apple dos 3.3?
> > >
> > >
> > >     Look for DOS33NuVrsn.zip on Asimov or GSWV:
> > >
> > >ftp://ftp.apple.asimov.net/pub/apple_II/incoming/
> > >http://www.grin.net/~cturley/a2zine/System/
> > >
> > >It looks like a pretty good bet to be 'the last DOS 3.3'.
> > >
> >
> > You really don't want the last version of Apple's DOS 3.3
> > anyway. It is terribly slow. Apple never got their DOS right
> > when it came to efficient sector reading.
> >
>
>      Yes. The surprising thing about Beagle's Prontodos patch was that it got
> such a huge speed increase with a few mods and some added code that fit in
> space left open in (the original) DOS 3.3.
>
>      I guess it's natural for new users to believe that genuine Apple, Inc.
> system software must be the best for Apple II computers. The first time we
> tried a Prontodos-patched disk it was impossible to believe that the speed
> boost was obtained without a gross sacrifice of reliability. I kept 'regular
> DOS' backups of everything for months.
>
> > You'd be much better off with a modified DOS 3.3, like
> > Pronto-DOS, DSR-DOS, or David-DOS. These are usually up to
> > twice as fast as Apple's "official" DOS 3.3 for reading disks.
> > Rather than taking a nap while games load, games will pop up
> > in just moments!
> >
>  ....
>
>      For sure. A recent check comparing file load times for three Apple DOS 3.3
> releases (1980-1983) vs. speeded DOS 3.3's yielded the following:
>
> Time to BLOAD MUFFIN from the 1983 DOS 3.3 System Master Diskette
>
> Standard DOS 3.3 (1980-1983 versions)- 8.9 sec.
> DavidDOS-                              2.8 sec
> DiversiDOS-                            2.9 sec
> EsDOS-                                 2.3 sec
> Prontodos (two versions)-              3.0 sec
>
> The speeded DOS's are 3-4 times faster. According to some reports, the speed
> multiplier may be greater for some other operations.
>
>      Olcott's question led to another check and a surprising discovery relating
> to the well-known problem with original DOS 3.3. It does not correctly report
> the size of files bigger than 255 sectors.
>
>      I copied a 289-sector file to a DOS 3.3 diskette and tried doing a CATALOG
> under each version. The official DOS 3.3's showed the file as having a length
> of 33 sectors! (33 = 289 - 256)  Prontodos makes the same error. A CATALOG
> under DavidDOS, DiversiDOS, and EsDOS shows 289 sectors.
>
>      Similarly, the three regular Apple DOS 3.3 versions mark off all of Track
> 02 as in-use. So do DavidDOS and DiversiDOS-- at least the versions I have.
> Yet, in 1982, Beagle's Prontodos made most of Track 02 (15 sectors) available
> to users. (EsDOS does this, too.)
>
>      Somehow, more than two years after the original DOS 3.3, Apple managed to
> release updates which avoid fixing three well-known, easily repaired
> weaknesses. Obviously, Apple wasn't especially interested in significant DOS
> 3.3 improvements-- which is why, today, a "DOS 3.3 user" seldom uses Apple's
> official DOS 3.3.
>
> Rubywand