1. I've just filled my second to last blank diskette! All my disks are double-sided, and I'm wondering if the Disk II uses both sides, or if I can safely cut a notch and format the back side to use it? (I used to do this with Commodore disks all the time.)
2. Is there a good source to order disks from? Amazon and eBay seem incredibly overpriced, or perhaps I'm just out of the loop...
3. While typing in a program, I usually save it each time I reach the end of a page. I just save over the older copy with the same filename, but would it conserve disk space if I delete it first? (Maybe a silly question, but just want to make sure I'm doing it right.)
4. Right now I'm using an Integer BASIC boot disk, but it seems most books refer to Applesoft BASIC. Could someone point me to a good disk image for Applesoft BASIC? Every disk image I try seems to be very different and confusing.Thanks for any help!
1. Apple diskII writes only on the bottom. Perfecrly OK to notch and turn over and use. Some floppy disks get craooy after time and pieces of oxide flake off. It is not too big a problem.
2. Have not found it myself
3. Just keep saving the program. It overwrites
4. ??
I've ordered bulk diskettes for an average price of US$1 per diskette. That isn't overpriced, and they are newly made media.
Some of them howeer, use a thicker material for their jacket, so they can be a pain to fit into a DuoDisk or UnitDIsk 5.25.
Do not try to use HD 5.25 disks, as their mylar material and the film on the mylar is a different thickness; and if you flip the disks over, some cheap disks may not have the same coating on side 2, so always be cautious when notching them that you write+verify. In general, it's fine.
You want both a DOS 3.3 System Master, and a ProDOS System Master if you intend to use the system in general, and it has at least 64K of RAM. You will see that message whenever you bootstrap the DOS 3.3 Master Disk. Don't worry about it. It is most likely that you have AppleSoft BASIC in ROM, so there is nothing to load into a language card--you don't have one unless you have an original ][ with a Monitor ROM.
And HD disks use a very different magnetic oxide coating which makes them very unreliable when used in a non-HD mechanism.
Thanks everyone for your replies. Sorry it took so long to reply!
My fourth point was regarding the fact that some of the "blank" disks I boot with say "Loading Integer BASIC", some don't say anything. But obviously my IIe has a built in BASIC, because it's there even without a boot disk. I think Timelord's answer covers what I was trying to say.
If it says `Loading Integer Basic`, it was formatted with DOS 3.3 using INIT HELLO from a DOS 3.3 Master diskette. That system message was for the original Apple ][, which had a language card.
If you use the LIST command on booting, you will find the entire programme that displays that, in memory., You can modify it in any way that you want, and save it, and create your own autoboot programme in the process. I have a utility that I wrote and saved on my DOS Master diskettes that allows me to select to boot from a slot, exit to DOS/BASIC, or do some other common utility functions, all using hotkeys.
Likewise, if you clear all of the lines, and save, you can reduce the hello programme to do nothing, and it will drop you to ther BASIC prompt without any message. Disks that do nothing but drop you to a prompt were probably initialised after clearing the current programme:
NEWINIT HELLO
This will create a disk that doesn't display that message. NEW clears the current programme in memory. When you call INIT, you are telling DOS to write the current programme in memory to the disk as the programme filename N, where is a string that you specify. Thus, INIT HELLO writes the programme HELLO to the disk. There is nothing special about the filename itself: Its location on the disk determines if it is bootstrapped.
You can create a simple AppleSoft BASIC programme like this, to bootstrap a binary programme:
100 PRINT D$"BRUN FILENAME"
INIT HELLO
Now the disk is initialised with this new programme, which is used as a bootstrapper.
This would take the place of the ordinary HELLO file, and call the binary file FILENAME from the diskette, attempt to load it into memory and execute a jump to it.
I hope that this clears up some of your confusion on what is happening when you bootstrap these diskettes.
Just a couple of clarifications.
1. "Loading Integer Basic" would be displayed on an Apple ][ Plus w/LC; since Applesoft is in ROM, Integer BASIC is being loaded into the Language Card.
2. The filename used during INIT determines what program will run after booting - the file with that name. Its location on the disk is irrelevant. You can even set a Binary program directly as the boot program with utilties such as Copy II Plus.