Re: Help with Apple 2e

[cps@access.digex.net (Chris Smolinski)]

In article <19971124002700.TAA15613@ladder02.news.aol.com>,
surfer8869@aol.com (Surfer8869) wrote:

> The //e uses ProDOS (by Bill Gates) or if earlier DOS 3.3 by the same author.

DOS was written outside of Apple, by a consultant (other than either
Micro$oft or Billy Gates). The author has written a short history of the
development, which I recall seeing somewhere on the net several years ago.
Interesting reading.

ProDOS was (to my knowledge) written inside Apple. Again, neither Micro$oft
nor Billy Gates had anything to do with it.

The disk drive and interface themselves were designed by the great Woz,
during the week between Christmas and New Years as I recall. Another
example of his pure genius. 

> The //e was a good little machine because they have Applesoft Basic (also by
> Bill Gates) Built in to the roms. So even if you don't load the OS from disk,
> even if you don't have a disk. You still have good old Applesloth BASIC. BASIC
> is a good language to know as you can still use those skills today programming
> the likes of visual basic or Q-Basic on the PC or MAC.

Yes, Applesoft was a modified version of the same Basic peddled around by
Billy Gates to all the micro manufacturers in those days. This was of
course before he stole^H^H^H^H^H modified CP/M and resold it as MSDOS.

Chris

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