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Re: How start BASIC without diskette?

On 6/30/2010 4:59 PM, M.O.B. i L. wrote:

Michael J. Mahon wrote:

On 6/30/2010 2:39 PM, M.O.B. i L. wrote:

I received an Apple II Europlus with two diskette-stations yesterday --
and I have never used an Apple II before. I didn't receive any
diskettes. When I started it it prints APPLE ][ on the screen (actually
APPLE �� since it is Swedish) and the diskette-drive spins but nothing
more happens. I then removed the diskette-controller and now it starts
in BASIC (Applesoft BASIC I presume since it can handle floating point
-- the prompt is ] i.e. � in my case).

Is there a way to start with the diskette-controller connected without a
bootable diskette and still get to BASIC?


Press ctl-RESET and you will be in Applesoft BASIC--without DOS, of
course.


Thanks to all who answered!

I don't have any key labeled RESET. According to some webpage it should
be the key in the upper right-hand corner of the keyboard:
<http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:BUDE8ddvMqoJ:apple2history.org/history/ah06.html+ctrl+reset+apple+ii+plus&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=se>.

I've tried using CTRL+THISKEY in various ways but it doesn't reset when
I'm in BASIC (I still haven't put back the diskette-controller. THISKEY
has cursor-right and - on it. The webpage also says: "The keyboards that
had the CTRL-RESET feature made it user selectable via a small slide
switch just inside the case (some people didn't want to have to press
the CTRL key to do a RESET)." I haven't found any slide switch.


The slide switch for the Ctl-RESET combination is not necessary--it was
a convenience to prevent accidentally resetting the machine.  Older
machines had no such option and only RESET was needed, so some people
took the key cap off of the RESET keyswitch to make accidental presses
less likely.


Could you format a blank diskette using the ROM BASIC? If not directly,
by entering or transferring a program -- possibly in 6502 machine code?
I have 5.25" DD-diskettes for PC. My Apple II Plus has cassette in and
cassette out so it should be possible to transfer programs, say DOS, to
it via the cassette-port.


Unfortunately, no. Diskettes can only be initialized by DOS, which
originally required booting a DOS disk, but now DOS can be loaded from
a modern PC using ADTPro, for example.

Google ADTPro for more information on getting started.


I found it and could get the ADTPro client to run on my Apple II
Europlus (w/o diskette-controller), but now my problem it how to stop
the Apple II from reading the diskette and return to ROM BASIC so I can
enter the commands and still have the diskette-stations connected.


That's what you must have RESET to accomplish.

Every Apple II of any variety has a RESET key, so apparently yours
is just not labeled properly.

You are correct, it is at the upper right corner of the keyboard.  This
keyswitch is the RESET keyswitch, regardless of what keycap it has.
Try it with and without Ctl held down and see if you can force a reset.
(When an Apple II resets, it beeps the speaker, clears the screen, and
puts up the "APPLE ][" banner.)

It is possible that the reset keyswitch or some wiring associated with
it is bad, but that is improbable.

-michael

NadaNet 3.1 for Apple II parallel computing!
Home page:  http://home.comcast.net/~mjmahon/

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