I would like to know if anyone has had a similar experience.
I have a ROM1 Apple IIGS with 4MB RAM and two Apple 5.25 drives connected. I booted Apple Pascal 1.1 using APPLE1: in drive 1 and APPLE2: in drive 2. I wrote a new, small Pascal program and exited the Editor and tried to use the command W, write file to disk after Quitting the Editor. I entered the file name as APPLE1:PROG1.TEXT and drive 1’s red light turned on and the drive started to whirl. After a few seconds an error message appeared that there was an I/O error and a message to return to the Editor.
Next, I used the Filer to get an existing Apple Pascal source file on the APPLE1: disk and entered the Editor. Without changing any of the program I quit the Editor and, once again, tried to use the W option to write the file to a new name APPLE1:DEMO2.TEXT and got the same I/O error problem.
I decided to connect one Apple 3.5 drive as the first drive in the disk drive chain and boot my Apple Pascal 1.3 3.5-inch diskette 1PASCAL:. I entered the Editor and wrote a new, small Pascal program and quit the Editor and used to use the W option to write the file to a new name APPLE1:PROG1.TEXT (APPLE1: was in the Apple 5.25 drive) and was able to save the file with no errors. Apple Pascal 1.3 did not have the disk write error problem.
I, next, booted my copy of Apple Pascal 1.2 with APPLE1: in Apple 5.25 drive and APPLE2: in the second Apple 5.25 drive. I entered the Editor and wrote a new, small Pascal program and quit the Editor and used to use the W option to write the file to a new name APPLE1:PROG1.TEXT and was able to save the file with no errors.Apple Pascal 1.2 did not have the disk write error problem.
I know my Apple Pascal 1.1 programs saved correctly on my Apple II Plus with language card and two Apple Disk 2 drives. I went over to my Apple II Plus computer and used the same Apple Pascal 1.1 disks APPLE1: and APPLE2: to boot Apple Pascal 1.1. I entered the Editor and wrote a new, small Pascal program and quit the Editor and used to use the W option to write the file to a new name APPLE1:PROG1.TEXT and was able to save the file with no errors.
Why didn’t this work on my Apple IIGS???
Apple Pascal 1.1 cannot recognize peripherals that conform to the ProDOS Block Device protocol, as it uses an incompatible protocol (called, appropriately enough, the Pascal 1.1 Firmware Protocol). The IWM disk controller on the IIgs is therefore not compatible with Pascal 1.1.
See this technical note for an explanation of why ProDOS block devices are always incompatible with Pascal 1.1.
You could use Pascal 1.1 by installing a Disk II card in slot 6 of the IIgs and setting the control panel to "My Card".
This information is just what I needed. One final question: Is the Apple 5.25 drive a generic ProDos block device? (from the tech note a generic ProDos block device cannot follow the Pascal 1.1 Firmware Protocol)
I reread your reply and I see that you stated that the Apple IIGS IWM is the device that does not follow the Apple Pascal 1.1 Firmware Protocol.