Re: Multitasking apple II

["Ranando King" <rk@magictouchcorp.com>]

It's possible... at least with 64K programs. I did something like that when
I was trying to write a //e GUI for my first Apple. I had gotten to the
point where I had a DHGR pixel driver, sound driver and was sharing main
memory and the first aux page with P8 and DHGR graphics, as well as some
management info. It used all other pages of aux memory to run other
programs. It didn't fair so well on some programs that played with the
memory softswitches, but for simple things, it worked quite well.  To bad I
lost it when my profile II hard disk died. That was 3 years of work!!!

"Simon Williams" <bill_gates@microsoft.com> wrote in message
1gk7f2z.27uxal1waddmaN%bill_gates@microsoft.com">news:1gk7f2z.27uxal1waddmaN%bill_gates@microsoft.com...
> Okay, here's a thought... 8-bit Apple IIs are expandable to 1.125 MB but
> aside from Appleworks, most 8-bit software is quite happy running in 64K
> or 128K. Would it be possible to hack Prodos to swap 128K at a time
> without quitting the current program?
> I imagine this would require the OS to take a "snapshot" of the
> currently running 128K and move it up, and then move a different 128K
> bank into main memory.... maybe this is similar to how Proterm is able
> to switch between terminal and editor.
> Now this is well beyond my abilities, since I'm sure a confusing web of
> GOTOs in Applesoft won't quite do the trick... but it seems like the
> kind of thing that might add to the utility of the Apple II without
> having to bother with a 32-bit processor or create some Frankensteinian
> concoction of orphaned motherboards ;-)
> Of course, it also occurs to me that if this were feasible it would
> likely have been done by now.
>
> Comments?
>
> -- 
> ._____. SIMON WILLIAMS  *email*at*luddite*dot*ca*
> |[LD8]! LUDDITE APPAREL http://apparel.luddite.ca
> | (O) | FAILURE RECORDS http://failure.luddite.ca
> !__!__! LC475 WEBSERVER http://luddite.no-ip.com