Re: DOS 3.3 versions

[nparker@cie-2.uoregon.edu (Neil Parker)]

In article <5ctrhk$9i6@login.freenet.columbus.oh.us>
dalloff@freenet.columbus.oh.us (Dave Althoff) writes:
}[...about DOS 3.3 versions...]
}Hmmm...Let me think...
}Assuming that there are only three versions (the Truth is covered in
}"Beneath Apple DOS" which I keep promising myself, but haven't acquired
}yet), then the second version contains a patch for the APPEND bug (but
}apparently APPEND still doesn't work right...I don't really know since I
}just make it a habit not to use APPEND); the third version then would
}be the ][e release which contains yet another APPEND patch, and an
}additional bit of code which shuts off the 80-column firmware during boot.
} That version comes on a new System Master which uses the LOADER.OBJ0
}program to fast-load INTBASIC (or FPBASIC), and a revised "HELLO" program
}which displays the "MAKE SURE CAPS LOCK IS DOWN" reminder on a ][e.  Oh,
}this System Master is also less full than the earlier System Master
}because most of the demo programs were moved to the new "Sample Programs"
}disk.  But for DOS 3.3, changes in the distribution disks are not
}particularly relevant to the changes in the OS itself.
}
}Okay, Apple ][ gurus, where did I screw *this* one up?  8-)

Actually, it's pretty screwup-free.  Just a one nit to pick:  The *second*
version of DOS 3.3 was the one that came out with the IIe, and included
code to turn off the 80-column card.  It also included a "fix" for the
infamous APPEND bug that actually made the problem worse than it was before.
This was the disk that included LOADER.OBJ0 and the caps-lock message and
all the little Applesoft programs whose sole purpose was to run the
corresponding binary programs (because somebody apparently thought "RUN
FILEM" made more sense than "BRUN FID").

I've never seen a copy of the third version, but I think the major internal
change was an attempt to undo the damage introduced by the APPEND bug patch
in the second version.


I usually use a copy of the first version that's been patched to speed up
disk reads.

               - Neil Parker
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