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Rare Docs Show How Apple Created Apple II DOS

Posted by timothy on from the won't-be-big-and-fancy-like-gnu dept.

An anonymous reader writes with a link to this "CNET story about arguably the most important technical documents in Apple's early history: the source code, contract letters, schematics and notes for the creation of the Apple II Disk Operating System (DOS). From 1977 and 1978, these documents chronicle Apple's first OS and what made the Apple II into a serious computer for the masses, able to support killer apps like Visicalc and build the PC industry."

29 of 130 comments (clear)

  1. Maybe it was just my youth but... by TWX · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ...I could never figure out what to do with an Apple-II at a prompt. It always came down to inserting the software disk and rebooting the machine.

    It probably didn't help that the Packard Bell XT that dad bought had both "Teach Yourself DOS" and an MS-DOS 3.3 full command manual, and obviously the MS-DOS commands didn't work on the Apple...

    Sometimes I shudder to think that Packard Bell instigated the turning point that led to my professional career...

    --
    Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
    1. Re:Maybe it was just my youth but... by TWX · · Score: 2

      I did something similar, though a little bit ruder, on the built-in BASIC interpreter on an IBM PS/2 Model 25 that was the library card catalog machine when I was in school... It looked like a DOS prompt, but every input responded with one of half a dozen randomly-chosen rude responses...

      --
      Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
    2. Re:Maybe it was just my youth but... by djdanlib · · Score: 2

      Ugh, I wouldn't want to think that either. Here, have some relief: Learning how to use MS-DOS was really what got you started. The underlying hardware was only a little bit relevant, mostly when you had to wrangle CONFIG.SYS just right to make it work, or wanted to know what video modes you could use in BASIC or which floppies to buy at the store.

    3. Re:Maybe it was just my youth but... by drerwk · · Score: 4, Insightful

      CALL -151 the only command worth using

    4. Re:Maybe it was just my youth but... by hoggoth · · Score: 4, Funny

      HAHA Good 'ol days. I wrote a little 6502 code that intercepted the keyboard input and every time it saw an "S" it spit out a "TH" to the system. I called it "LITHP".
      It drove the teachers nuts.

      --
      - For the complete works of Shakespeare: cat /dev/random (may take some time)
    5. Re:Maybe it was just my youth but... by cormandy · · Score: 2
      Pretty good for off the top of your head. Only issue is that POS is a reserved word in Applesoft. Here is your code changing POS to PS:

      10 A$ = "DON'T TOUCH ME! "
      20 M$ = A$ + A$ + A$ + A$
      30 PS = 1
      40 PRINT MID$(M$,PS,39);
      50 PS = PS + 4: IF PS > LEN(A$) THEN PS = PS - LEN(A$)
      60 IF PEEK(-16384) < 128 THEN GOTO 40
      70 HOME
      80 FOR I = 1 TO 1000:NEXT
      90 HTAB 10:VTAB 12
      100 PRINT "I SAID ";
      110 FOR I = 1 TO 1000:NEXT
      120 PRINT "DON'T ";
      130 FOR I = 1 TO 2000:NEXT
      140 PRINT "TOUCH ";
      150 FOR I = 1 TO 2000:NEXT
      160 PRINT "ME!"
      170 FOR I = 1 TO 3000:NEXT
      180 HOME
      190 POKE -16368,0
      200 GOTO 30

      I ran it and it works!

    6. Re:Maybe it was just my youth but... by Tablizer · · Score: 3, Funny

      I wrote a little 6502 code that intercepted the keyboard input and every time it saw an "S" it spit out a "TH"

      Tho you're the thupid idiot who got me thuthpended from thchool! Bathtard! I'm thtuck uthing my old thythtem becauthe of that.

      --
      Table-ized A.I.
    7. Re:Maybe it was just my youth but... by TWiTfan · · Score: 2

      Packard Bell

      How DARE you speak those blasphemous words in this house!!

      --
      The cow says "Moo." The dog says "Woof." The Timothy says "Thanks, valued customer. We appreciate your input."
    8. Re:Maybe it was just my youth but... by sproketboy · · Score: 2

      For the kids out there:

      http://stackoverflow.com/questions/143374/call-151-what-did-it-do-on-the-apple

  2. Copied? by ozmanjusri · · Score: 5, Funny

    Were the documents Xeroxed as well?

    --
    "I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
  3. here comes Bobby buzzkill! by Thud457 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This is the Apple ][, not the Lisa.
    Therefore your attempt at humor is invalidated by being factually incorrect.

    --

    the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

    1. Re:here comes Bobby buzzkill! by moderatorrater · · Score: 4, Funny

      Looks like everything's in order. From a technical and possibly legal perspective, then, everyone is barred from laughing at GP's post until further notice.

  4. the more things change... by stenvar · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The Apple II was really only one of three massively successful PC lines: the Commodore, the TRS-80 line, and the Apple line, all introduced in 1977. The Apple II and TRS-80 both received floppy drives in 1978. The Apple II did keep production costs down, but both the machines and its disk drives were pretty expensive, so Apple really didn't do anything to help the masses with its cost savings. In terms of market share, Apple II was always a smaller player relative to the others. So, like today, Apple was had a product with a smaller market share, a lot of proprietary technology, and a large profit margin. And like today, they probably received more credit for innovation than they deserve.

    1. Re:the more things change... by Tempest_2084 · · Score: 2

      I'd say the Atari computer line was more successful than the TRS-80 line. Maybe I'm a bit biased though as the Atari 400 was my first computer.

    2. Re:the more things change... by stenvar · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Seriously? Around 1983-1985, the market was 50% IBM PC/compatibles and 50% Apple II. How is that a smaller market share?

      Your numbers are wrong. Apple never had anywhere near 50% market share in the desktop computer market.

      And WTF is proprietary technology?

      Technology that belongs to Apple and is incompatible with everything else. Many other machines used standard floppy disk controller chips.

      Jesus Fucking Christ, you Apple Haters are really impressive.

      You Apple fanboys and your ability to falsify history are really impressive.

    3. Re:the more things change... by stenvar · · Score: 2

      1985 was when the Apple //gs came out, so Apple's marketshare was already on the downward spiral. But IBM PCs were still pieces of shit compared to the Apple IIs.

      Wow, the Jobs reality distortion field is apparently still in full effect. In 1985, you could get an Amiga 1000 with hardware accelerated graphics, a 68k processor, and a multitasking OS. The PC had EGA cards, with higher resolution than the Apple II. There were tons of other interesting personal computers in the market. The Apple II was still stuck with its half-assed late 70's graphics hack. My Apple II was long mothballed by then. Yeah, the PCs were pieces of sh*t in 1985, but so were the Apple IIs: the two crappiest computer lines from that era survived and took over the market, and the rest is history.

    4. Re:the more things change... by Zero__Kelvin · · Score: 2

      " Apple never had anywhere near 50% market share in the desktop computer market."

      A fact which is rendered meaningless by the fact that the market wasn't even called the desktop computer market at the time. Apple's target market at the time was the Home Computer, whereas IBM was targeting the Small Office / Business market.

      "Technology that belongs to Apple and is incompatible with everything else. Many other machines used standard floppy disk controller chips.

      ... and proprietary filesystems and encoding schemes. There was no such thing as a non-proprietary PC until much later in history.

      "You Apple fanboys and your ability to falsify history are really impressive."

      The irony is tripled by your complete lack of grasp of the facts of said history.

      --
      Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
    5. Re:the more things change... by pamar · · Score: 3, Informative

      You apparently forgot the fact that Apple published schematics and was built with "off-the-shelf" components, and this soon resulted in a massive "clones" market, offering good if not perfect compatibility (the ROMs were easy to copy, too) at vastly reduced prices.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Apple_II_clones

    6. Re:the more things change... by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 2

      Agree with you. Apparently the OP never read "Beneath Apple DOS".

      Diversi-DOS and ProntoDOS (sold by Beagle Bros) were a much better DOS then DOS due to massive reading speed increases.

      Hell Copy ][+ when it booted up would two full tracks of data faster then DOS could read a few sectors! Tons of people were figuring things out on the Apple and sharing it.

  5. A Computer For The Masses? by westlake · · Score: 4, Informative

    From 1977 and 1978, these documents chronicle Apple's first OS and what made the Apple II into a serious computer for the masses.

    The computer for the masses has to be affordable.

    The original retail price of the computer was US $1298 (with 4 kB of RAM) and US $2638 (with the maximum 48 kB of RAM). The original Apple II was discontinued at the start of 1981, having been superseded by the II+.

    An estimated 40,000 machines were sold for its 4-year production run.

    Apple II series

    What cost $1298 in 1977 would cost $4848.66 in 2012. What cost $2638 in 1977 would cost $9854.21 in 2012. The Inflation Calculator

    Following Visicalc's release, Bricklin and Frankston developed ports for the Atari 800 and Commodore PET, both of which could be done easily due to sharing 6502 CPUs with the Apple II and being able to recycle large portions of code. Other versions followed for the HP 150 and TRS-80 Model I and II. Finally, Visicalc was ported to the IBM PC and became one of the initial pieces of software available for it on its 1981 launch.

    VisiCalc

    1. Re:A Computer For The Masses? by jythie · · Score: 4, Informative

      'Masses' is a fairly relative concept, as is 'affordable'. Compared to the targeting of the IBM compatible computers it could be argued that the Apple ][ line was more a computer for mass consumers, even if at its price point it was out of the range of many people. It is kinda like today out the Canon 5Dmk3 is a FF camera for the 'masses' in that it is intended (or at least marketed to) 'prosumers' as opposed to professionals and companies. Its price point is still higher then most people can plunk down for a camera, but it is still aimed at the mass market.

      Now, it could be argued there were other 'for the masses' computers also being sold at the time, but that is why it is "A" computer for the masses, not "The" computer for the masses.

      I think people tend to forget how computers were seen and marketed at the time, and how little attention there was on anyone other then hobbyists and professionals. The Apple ][ and other computers like it really were a new push to get usable computers into the homes of a much larger audience.

  6. we could have a whole thread just on bad keyboards by Thud457 · · Score: 2

    Atari 400

    HAHA, mebrane keyboard peasant. Full keyboard master race checking in.


    actually, in this case, I think I'm pretty safe in assuming that the Joint Chiefs of Staff would concur...

    --

    the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

  7. Lithp and Thcheme by tepples · · Score: 2

    I wrote a little 6502 code that intercepted the keyboard input and every time it saw an "S" it spit out a "TH" to the system. I called it "LITHP".

    It's too bad you weren't a little bit older, or you could have written an interpreter for a language with parenthesized syntax. You could have called it "Thcheme".

  8. Slightly Relevant: Web Based Apple II Emulator by MrYingster · · Score: 5, Interesting

    running Apple DOS 3.3.
    http://porkrind.org/a2/
    For those interested in reliving the memories of Apple DOS.... This emulator is all written in javascript. There seem to be quite a few ROMs present as well to try.

  9. A short trip down memory lane by ciurana · · Score: 2

    If you bleed in 6 colors and are a true Apple hacker, I have two words for you:

    INIT HELLO

    Cheers!

    --
    http://eugeneciurana.com | http://ciurana.eu
  10. 35 Days to write an OS by Fool106 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Pretty crazy to think he wrote an OS in 35 days. How long did it take Linus to write linux?

  11. Re:What DOS? by cormandy · · Score: 2

    You're drunk. And to confuse you further, here is the Z-80 card Microsoft produced to allow CP/M to run on an Apple ][ http://www.z80.eu/apple2.html

  12. Apple Innovation by emil · · Score: 2

    In addition to the disk controller, credited in the article as dramatically (and masterfully) reducing the parts count and expense, the Apple 2 was the first computer to use a switching power supply.

    1977: Apple II is designed with a switching mode power supply. "For its time (1977) it was a breakthrough, since until then switching mode power supplies weren’t used. Designed by Rod Holt,". "Rod Holt was brought in as product engineer and there were several flaws in Apple II that were never publicized. One thing Holt has to his credit is that he created the switching power supply that allowed us to do a very lightweight computer".

    The design of the color graphics capability also demonstrated intelligent and practical engineering:

    Color on the Apple II series took advantage of a quirk of the NTSC television signal standard, which made color display relatively easy and inexpensive to implement. The original NTSC television signal specification was black-and-white. Color was tacked on later by adding a 3.58-MHz subcarrier signal that was partially ignored by B&W TV sets. Color is encoded based on the phase of this signal in relation to a reference color burst signal. The result is that the position, size, and intensity of a series of pulses define color information. These pulses can translate into pixels on the computer screen.

    The Apple II display provided two pixels per subcarrier cycle. When the color burst reference signal was turned on and the computer attached to a color display, it could display green by showing one alternating pattern of pixels, magenta with an opposite pattern of alternating pixels, and white by placing two pixels next to each other. Later, blue and orange became available by tweaking the offset of the pixels by half a pixel-width in relation to the colorburst signal. The high-resolution display offered more colors simply by compressing more, narrower pixels into each subcarrier cycle. The coarse, low-resolution graphics display mode worked differently, as it could output a short burst of high-frequency signal per pixel to offer more color options.

    The Apple 2 showed the computer hardware engineering trade that much, much more could be done with less. I'm no Apple fanboi, but accolades earned and deserved should be recognized.

  13. Re:What DOS? by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 2

    Apple in 1978 starting shipping _their_ version of DOS 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, and ProDOS in 1983. Microsoft didn't ship their MS-DOS until 1981.

    The Apple ][ _could_ run CP/M _if_ you had a Z-80 card. i.e. Wordstar.

    References:
      * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_DOS
      * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRODOS
      * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS-DOS