06.022 How can I run DOS 3.3 programs from 3.5" disks and hard disk?
Description
This article is from the Apple II Csa2 FAQ, by Jeff Hurlburt with numerous contributions by others.
06.022 How can I run DOS 3.3 programs from 3.5" disks and hard disk?
You can run quite a few DOS 3.3 programs from 3.5" disk, a large RAM disk,
or hard disk. However, there are numerous DOS 3.3 programs which will not run
this way and which could even damage files and directories on the larger media.
Problems are especially likely when a program modifies and CALLs machine
code routines such as Read/Write Track-Sector (RWTS) and/or makes assumptions
about the physical locations on disk of important DOS 3.3 areas such as the
Volume Table of Contents, CATALOG track, and DOS itself. Using a special
routine to save "High Scores" to a specific Track/Sector is just one of many
ways a DOS 3.3 program might create havoc on a hard disk.
On the other hand, you have programs which stick to using standard DOS
commands from BASIC such as, probably, most of your own DOS 3.3 programs and
most 'type-in' software from publications like SoftSide. Programs like these
should run fine using one of the techniques for accessing DOS 3.3 software from
3.5" diskette or hard disk.
There are two fairly popular approaches to running DOS 3.3 software from
3.5" diskette on an Apple II. One is to copy it to a specially formatted 3.5"
diskette which boots a modified "DOS 3.3" such as AmDOS or OzDOS. Typically,
you get two "400k disks" on each 3.5" diskette.
A very different approach is used by DOS 3.3 Launcher. It offers two
options:
1- You can save some DOS 3.3 programs to ProDOS disk (including 3.5" disk or
hard disk). These must be single-file programs that do not access the disk
once they are loaded into memory. DOS 3.3 Launcher's Copier is used to set
launch options.
2- Using the DOS 3.3 Launcher Copier, you can save an entire DOS 3.3 disk as a
disk image to a ProDOS 3.5" diskette, hard disk, etc.. According to 'Launcher's
docs:
>> Any disk that uses a standard RWTS (Read/Write Track/Sector) routine can be
copied in this manner. This includes not only DOS 3.3 disks, but also many old
games which use a standard RWTS, but are not actually DOS 3.3. They can then be
launched by DOS 3.3 Launcher, which "boots" the large file directly from your
hard disk. <<
To run a program from ProDOS-8, you start DOS 3.3 Launcher from a program
selector such as ProSel-8 which supports the ProDOS 8 startup protocol- - i.e.
it can make applications automatically open a data file. (The DOS 3.3 Launcher
docs tell how to setup a ProSel entry for a program.)
Running a program from the IIgs System Finder is much easier.
>> If you have properly installed DOS 3.3 Launcher, your DOS 3.3 programs
should appear with DOS 3.3 icons when viewed through the Finder. To launch
them, you simply double click on them, which launches them via ProDOS 8. <<
Of the two basic approaches (a special 3.5" DOS 3.3 or DOS 3.3 Launcher),
DOS 3.3 Launcher seems to be the better way to go:
First, it is easy to set up the contents of a DOS 3.3 disk prior to converting
it to disk image form-- you can use any of the popular disk management
utilities such as Copy II Plus. Moving DOS 3.3 files onto an AmDOS or OzDOS
disk with the crude FID-type copiers available is a hassle.
Second, DOS 3.3 Launcher turns out to create and use standard 143,360-byte
ProDOS order (.po) disk images, except, at least on the IIgs, the 'Launcher
requires a special filetype-- e.g. $F1 to run at 1MHz, $F2 to run at "Fast"
speed. These filetypes make it possible for the DOS 3.3 Launcher icons
(included) to link images to the program for easy launching under the Finder-
- you just double-click on the image's icon.
So, you should be able to download any .dsk disk image on your PC, use an
emulator to transfer the contents to a .po disk image, and transfer the .po
file via NULL modem to your Apple II. Here you just need to adjust the filetype
for use under DOS 3.3 Launcher. Or you can convert 5.25" .sdk (shrinked disk)
files to .po disk image form and transfer these via NULL modem.
To download AmDOS, OzDOS, DOS3.3.Launcher, and ProSel, see Csa21MAIN4: Get
It- Links to popular software packages.
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