You might think the scraping sound the floppy drive makes is due to it being in an attic for 15 years. No. They always sounded like that.
The program that runs (from the bootable floppy in the drive) is an introduction to Apple computers. Note how the whole thing is designed to relax the user by showing the Apple's similarity to a typewriter.
Aha! He forgot 6^P as the original way to boot the disk. Newbie.
The funny thing about the Apple ][ disk was that homing sequence itself. It was aligning the head to track 0 by SLAMMING it against a metal backstop. Primitive, but took very few opcodes to make it happen, especially since the apple disk format had no encoding in the tracks to tell the head where it was.
One of my first forays into 6502 assembly was copying that home routine off the card and changing the delay between pulses to the servo. You could actually make music with that metal backstop if you made the delay small enough.
When my drive got busted, I went to the monitor (CALL -151 was it?) and typed in assembly something that me and a buddy of mine come - basically changing the speed of the disk, based on the key you pressed - something like a piano.
But the sound was important. Normal DOS directory track was number 11, so it sounded one way, while the cool stuff sounded differently - games, apps, etc.
It was awesome time, back then, before teh internet...
I once found out on a BBC Master (which we borrowed from school) you can control the relay that controls the tape interface. A relay clicks on or off. So we had a BASIC program which clicked it at random, and it made a lovely clattering noise.
The thing I remember most about Apple ][ is the friendly manual and the shiny,shiny hardware. Wide open, waiting for you to do your mods with a smile... the Woz way.
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[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 39.5 ms ] threadYou might think the scraping sound the floppy drive makes is due to it being in an attic for 15 years. No. They always sounded like that.
The program that runs (from the bootable floppy in the drive) is an introduction to Apple computers. Note how the whole thing is designed to relax the user by showing the Apple's similarity to a typewriter.
The funny thing about the Apple ][ disk was that homing sequence itself. It was aligning the head to track 0 by SLAMMING it against a metal backstop. Primitive, but took very few opcodes to make it happen, especially since the apple disk format had no encoding in the tracks to tell the head where it was.
One of my first forays into 6502 assembly was copying that home routine off the card and changing the delay between pulses to the servo. You could actually make music with that metal backstop if you made the delay small enough.
But the sound was important. Normal DOS directory track was number 11, so it sounded one way, while the cool stuff sounded differently - games, apps, etc.
It was awesome time, back then, before teh internet...
I'm driving up to my parents' place in a few weeks so I can pick up my old Apple //e from their garage.
Can't emulate that!