Re: Prodos Question (Update)

[drucker@lclark.edu (Ivan Drucker)]

In article <DFuCqo.yG.0.sheppard@torfree.net>, bo144@torfree.net (David
Arnett) wrote:

>    I should have checked all my disks before I asked the last question.  
> I found a Prodos disk with Prodos 8 on it.  Now the question is, how can 
> I format a new disk in Prodos 8?  When the disk boots, it goes on to load 
> the program on it.  If I press CTRL-RESET, I end up in the monitor, and 
> breaking out with CTRL-C won't let me enter any Prodos commands.  My 
> system disk is the one with Prodos 1 on it.  Can I simply initialize a 
> disk with the system utilities (under prodos 1) and then use the system 
> utilities to copy Prodos 8 onto it?  Can I copy Prodos 8 onto the system 
> utilities disk itself, so all future disks will format into Prodos 8?  
>    I have never used Prodos before, except to run the programs on the 
> disks, so any help would be appreciated.
> 
> David Arnett (bo144@torfree.net)

A ProDOS disk will, upon booting, first look for the file PRODOS.  If it
can't find it, you immediately get an error message.  When it finds it and
begins to load, you get the initial splash screen (versions 1.4 and later
are called PRODOS 8; GS systems have a file called P8 which is the same
thing).  This is the PRODOS kernel; it has no user interface.  The next
thing it will try to do is load a file of type SYS (basically a standard
binary file which begins at $2000) which ends in .SYSTEM.  It will take
the first file in the catalog it finds.  If BASIC.SYSTEM is on your disk,
it will run that, and then you get the standard AppleSoft prompt.  If
another .SYSTEM file is on your disk, it runs that and you don't get the
chance to do anything.  If there are no .SYSTEM files on your disk, it
gives you a little menu so you can choose what you want to do.  Also, for
what it's worth, if BASIC.SYSTEM loads, it tries to execute an AppleSoft
(type BAS) program called STARTUP.

Ivan Drucker