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ace258d862
I discovered that Bird's Better Bye and the ProDOS 1.9 selector are different. Documentation updated with the history to the best of my knowledge.
56 lines
3.2 KiB
Markdown
56 lines
3.2 KiB
Markdown
# ProDOS Drivers
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[](https://travis-ci.org/a2stuff/prodos-drivers)
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# What are ProDOS "drivers"?
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The ProDOS operating system for the Apple II executes the first `.SYSTEM` file found in the boot directory on startup. A common pattern is to have the boot directory contain several "driver" files that customize ProDOS by installing drivers for hardware or modify specific parts of the operating system. These include:
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* Real-time Clock drivers (e.g. No-Slot Clock, Cricket!, AE DClock, etc)
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* In ProDOS 1.x, 2.0 and 2.4 the Thunderclock driver is built-in.
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* RAM Disk drivers (e.g. RamWorks)
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* In ProDOS 1.x, 2.0 and 2.4 only a 64K driver for /RAM is built-in.
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* Quit dispatcher/selector (`BYE` routines)
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* In ProDOS 1.0 and later, a 40-column friendly [selector](selector) prompts for a prefix then a path `ENTER PREFIX (PRESS "RETURN" TO ACCEPT)`
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* In ProDOS 1.9 and 2.0.x, on 80-column systems, a menu-driven selector is installed instead.
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* In ProDOS 2.4.x [Bitsy Bye](https://prodos8.com/bitsy-bye/) is built-in.
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Early versions of these drivers would often invoke a specific file on completion, sometimes user-configurable. The best versions of these drivers simply execute the following `.SYSTEM` file, although this is non-trivial code and often did not work with network drives.
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This repository collects several drivers and uses common code to chain to the next `.SYSTEM` file, suporting network drives.
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## What is present here?
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This repo includes The following drivers/modifications:
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* Real-time Clock drivers
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* No-Slot Clock
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* Cricket!,
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* Applied Engineering DClock
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* RAM Disk drivers
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* RAMWorks Driver by Glen E. Bredon
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* Quit dispatcher/selector (`BYE` routines)
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* 40-column Selector (from ProDOS)
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* 80-column menu-driven Selector (from ProDOS 1.9 and 2.x)
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* Bird's Better Bye (a 40-column menu-driven selector)
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* Buh-Bye (an enhanced version of the ProDOS 80-column, menu-driven selector)
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In addition, `QUIT.SYSTEM` is present which isn't a driver but which immediately invokes the QUIT handler (a.k.a. program selector).
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Some date/time utilities for The Cricker! clock are also included.
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## How do you use these?
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The intent is that you use a tool like Copy II Plus or [Apple II DeskTop](https://github.com/a2stuff/a2d) to copy and arrange the SYSTEM files on your boot disk as you see fit. An example boot disk image catalog that is used on multiple different hardware configurations might include:
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* `PRODOS` - the operating system, e.g. [ProDOS 2.4](https://prodos8.com/)
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* `NS.CLOCK.SYSTEM` - install No-Slot Clock driver, if present
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* `DCLOCK.SYSTEM` - install DClock clock driver, if present
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* `CRICKET.SYSTEM` - install Cricket! clock driver, if present
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* `RAM.DRV.SYSTEM` - install RamWorks RAM disk driver, if present
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* `BUHBYE.SYSTEM` - install a customized Quit handler to replace the built-in one
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* `QUIT.SYSTEM` - invoke the Quit handler immediately, as a program selector
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* `BASIC.SYSTEM` - which will not be automatically invoked, but is available to manually invoke
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Alternately, you might want to install some drivers then immediately launch into BASIC. In that case, put `BASIC.SYSTEM` after the drivers in place of `QUIT.SYSTEM`.
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