Re: Pascal versions

[dempson@atlantis.actrix.gen.nz (David Empson)]

In article <488998193wnr@klatch.demon.co.uk>,
John Le Febvre  <john@klatch.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> Having recently obtained a 3.5" drive for my //e, I decided to transfer
> my Pascal disks across to a single 3.5" disk, saving on disk-swapping.
> 
> I formatted a Pascal floppy via ProDOS system utilities, but it doesn't
> boot.  Not a major problem, but it would be nice if I could PR#5 into
> Pascal.  However, when I do boot Pascal, the 3.5" drive is not 
> recognized - so my question is, how can I make it recognize the drive?

Format it using Pascal.  I don't know whether System Utilities will
put a valid Pascal catalog and boot blocks on the disk (it probably
does, but I've never tried).

> I have Pascal 1.1, and wonder if 1.2 or 1.3 would solve my problem - 
> were there any other versions..?

The latest version is 1.3.  It was released in about 1985.  It is
available from Byte Works for US$69.95, plus shipping (which may be
expensive, because there is a very large pile of manuals to go along
with it).

You must have version 1.3 to support a 3.5" drive.  The drive
controller must be in slot 4, 5 or 6.  Pascal 1.3 can boot from any of
these slots (for a 3.5" drive; I think it is still limited to booting
from slot 6 with a 5.25" drive).

> While I'm on the subject, was there ever a Pascal produced that ran
> under ProDOS?  Even a non-Apple version?

Apple II Pascal was never updated to work with ProDOS.  Apple III
Pascal (which requires an Apple III) is a very similar environment,
and it uses SOS (which has the same file system as ProDOS).  This was
never ported back to the Apple II.

Apple did release a program called "Instant Pascal", which was a
Pascal interpreter that ran under ProDOS.  It was really only useful
as an educational tool, and is no longer available.

There was a third-party Pascal compiler that ran under ProDOS: Kyan
Pascal, but it is not available any more.  I've never seen it.

On the IIgs, there is ORCA/Pascal, which runs under GS/OS.
-- 
David Empson
dempson@actrix.gen.nz
Snail mail: P.O. Box 27-103, Wellington, New Zealand