Re: Apple IIe problem

[dalloff@freenet.columbus.oh.us (Dave Althoff)]

pc campbell (pceagle@mail.bright.net) wrote:
: Can someone tell me what it means when you have a Apple IIe, dual
: 5 1/4" drives, you put the disk in the drive, power it up and after
: Apple IIe comes on the screen  the cursor comes up then it says
: 'language not available' and then the cursor comes back up.

: The disk says 1981 and DOS  3.2/3.3.  The disk also says
: master disk and is file protected.  Have several disks that do this.
: May sound like a stupid question, but I am new to this system
: and could use some help on this.  No manuals available.

Sounds like you're trying to boot a disk with an Integer BASIC "greeting"
program.  This is very bad form these days.  The DOS 3.2 is a red
herring...if it were a 13-sector disk (DOS 3.2/DOS 3.2.1), then it
wouldn't load up at all.  LANGUAGE NOT AVAILABLE means exactly what it
says:  the language that the program is trying to use is not present in
the machine.  It also means that the person who created the disk either
created it on an Apple ][ with Integer BASIC in ROM, or failed to take
into account a feature of DOS 3.3 intended to avoid this problem.

Once you get the LANGUAGE NOT AVAILABLE error, DOS is fully loaded...after
getting the error, it should crash to an Applesoft ("]") prompt.  Do a
CATALOG, and I'll bet the top of the list looks something like this:

]CATALOG

DISK VOLUME 254

 I 004 HELLO
       .
       .
       .

This is bad form in the world of ROM Applesoft.  What you need is a DOS
3.3 System Master, one which has the following files on it:

DISK VOLUME 254
 A 004 HELLO
 I 004 APPLESOFT
 B 027 INTBASIC
 B 027 FPBASIC
 B 003 LOADER.OBJ0

(file lengths may vary...I don't have my System Master handy at the moment)
(Older System Masters will not have LOADER.OBJ0)

The HELLO program on the System Master has a routine on it which detects a
Language Card in the machine (built-in to the ][e) and automatically loads
INTBASIC.  INTBASIC is a copy of the Integer BASIC interpreter, and it can
be accessed from Applesoft (once loaded) with the INT command:

]INT
>

Of course, if INTBASIC is not loaded, then you will get:

]INT

LANGUAGE NOT AVAILABLE
]

(sound familiar?)

Likewise, Applesoft is in ROM on the ][+, ][e, and up, so from Integer
BASIC, you can type 

>FP
]

and get back to Applesoft.  It just so happens that on the Apple ][ (NOT
][+), Integer BASIC is in ROM instead of Applesoft.  So if you try to boot
the System Master on a ][, instead of running HELLO, DOS will look for a
file called APPLESOFT.  If APPLESOFT is not an Integer BASIC program, or
if it doesn't exist, you will then get 

LANGUAGE NOT AVAILABLE

But Applesoft, like the HELLO program on the System Master, contains a
routine which will try to load Applesoft (file FPBASIC) into the language
card, enabling you to use it on an Apple ][.

With that in mind, here's what you might try to "fix" the disk in
question.  You will need a DOS 3.3 System Master disk of any vintage.

1.  Determine the name of the "greeting" program on the disk.  Odds are
pretty good that it is called HELLO...it will be an Integer BASIC file.
For now, let's assume that it is called HELLO.

2.  Rename the greeting program.  Call it "APPLESOFT":
]RENAME HELLO,APPLESOFT

At this point, if you try to boot the disk, instead of crashing with 
LANGUAGE NOT AVAILABLE
it should crash with
FILE NOT FOUND

3.  Load the program HELLO from the System Master.  Hack into it and find
the point where it ends...it is an Applesoft BASIC program.  After the
last executed line of code, add the following line:

xxxx PRINT CHR$(4);"RUN APPLESOFT"

4.  Save the hacked version of the System Master "HELLO" on the disk that
you are working on, using the greeting-program name...i.e. 
]SAVE HELLO

5.  Determine which version of the System Master you are using.  If the
message:

APPLE II PLUS OR ROMCARD

appears on the screen as it boots, then you have the "old" System Master. 
If the HELLO program finishes by displaying, in inverse text...

MAKE SURE CAPS LOCK IS DOWN

then you have the "new" System Master.

6.  With the System Master in the drive, 

]BRUN FID

This loads a primitive file utility program.  Tell it you want to copy
files.  Use it to copy the file INTBASIC from the System Master to your
disk.  If you have the "new" System Master, then you also want to copy the
file LOADER.OBJ0  to your disk; if you have the old System Master, then
LOADER.OBJ0 does not exist.

At this point, you should be able to re-boot with your surgically altered
disk.

Good luck, have fun, and let me know if you have more questions...or if it
turns out I am totally wrong.

--Dave Althoff, ][.
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