Apple II Pascal-Where to Start?

[Mister_Alex]

OK, 6502 assembly language is fun to learn, but I'm not going to be coding anything fun for quite awhile. So, might as well go back to Pascal. How do I get started doing Pascal programming on an Apple II E or earlier? I tried downloading the files off apple2info.net, but now I need a file named "System.Apple".

I can't believe programming on an older system is so complicated.

 

[Tor]

This may not help much, but back in the days (in the eighties) I would boot a floppy with UCSD Pascal, and start coding. It had its own editor as I recall. Not too much RAM available with that system loaded so I had four floppy drives at one point, and set it up to swap parts of itself to floppy so that I could squeeze my program into the editor.

 

[GottaLottaStuff]

Sounds like a RAM expansion would be the place to start, and maybe an SD card instead of a floppy. Or a SCSI hard drive. Or upgrade to a GS with all of the above.

 

[HoJoPo]

There are a four 5.25 disks in the Apple Pascal sets. It's possible to build a 3.5 disk containing the complete Pascal 1.3 environment.

For Pascal 1.0/1.1/1.2, you need at least the apple1: (boot) and apple0: (program) disks.

Here's a good page with a link to the manuals and disk images: http://apple2info.net/index.php?title=Apple_II_Pascal

Page 147 of the Apple 2 Pascal Language Reference guide covers a single drive startup (boot from apple1:, then swap it for apple0: ). For a two drive system, put apple1: in drive 1, apple2: in drive 2.

A great guide to Pascal on the apple 2 is available for download here: http://apple2online.com/web_documents/Apple Pascal A Hands-On Approach Manual KBS.pdf

More books here: http://apple2online.com/index.php?p=1_17_Programming-Languages

 

[Mister_Alex]

Where can I locate the Apple 1 and Apple 0 disks?
Is Pascal practical for Apple II programming? I read that "Wizardry" was coded in that language, so it can't be THAT limited.

 

[HoJoPo]

Where can I locate the Apple 1 and Apple 0 disks?
Is Pascal practical for Apple II programming? I read that "Wizardry" was coded in that language, so it can't be THAT limited.

The link to apple2info.net above has both the manuals and the disk images. You'll probably want to use Pascal 1.2 on a //e.

As for practical, it is fairly powerful, but slower than assembly. As it runs on a virtual machine (P-code), it is slower than native compiled code from another version of Pascal would be.

 

[krebizfan]

What type of programs are you planning to write? Apple Pascal is derived from UCSD Pascal which was used to create lots of software in the early 80s. It is less than ideal for arcade style games but the graphics are adequate if trying something like Wizardry or creating charts.

Advantages:
An early IDE so execution can take place inside the editor
Great manuals
Large stand alone executables require less memory than you might expect.

Disadvantages:
Well, you have seen the major one, the need for multiple disks. If you don't have multiple drives, the swapping will get old. 3.5" drive makes it nicer.
It can be slow.
Pascal is a teaching language so it forces structure on the code which may hamper on the fly creation.
The disk format is weird.

 

[Mister_Alex]

I can download the four disks for Pascal okay, but when I try to run them on Virtual II I get an error: No File System.Apple. What do I need now?

I am not aiming to do arcade games. Just find something productive for my excessive free time.

 

[HoJoPo]

I can download the four disks for Pascal okay, but when I try to run them on Virtual II I get an error: No File System.Apple. What do I need now?

I am not aiming to do arcade games. Just find something productive for my excessive free time.

Be sure you have the Apple1: image in slot 6, drive 1 of the emulator, that's the boot disk, and should contain system.apple. Since you're in an emulator, put the Apple2: image in slot 6, drive 2.

 

[Mister_Alex]

Okay. I fire up the Virtual II with an Apple II E.ROM as its default. Next, I Insert Diskette into Slot 6, Drive 2. The error doesn't appear anymore, but now nothing is happening. Do I need to convert Apple II E.ROM into a .DSK?

 

[HoJoPo]

Okay. I fire up the Virtual II with an Apple II E.ROM as its default. Next, I Insert Diskette into Slot 6, Drive 2. The error doesn't appear anymore, but now nothing is happening. Do I need to convert Apple II E.ROM into a .DSK?

You need the Apple1: image in slot 6, drive 1 AND the Apple2: image in slot 6, drive 2. Slot 6 drive 1 is the boot drive, apple1: is the boot disk.

On a //e, if there is no readable disk in slot 6 drive 1, it will just sit at the "Apple ][" or "Apple //e" screen looking for a disk to boot from....

 

[Mister_Alex]

Where can I find an Apple1: image?

 

[kb2syd]

Where can I find an Apple1: image?

From http://apple2info.net/index.php?title=Apple_II_Pascal as stated earlier.

 

[Mister_Alex]

This is way too vague. Exactly which files do I need, and what procedure do I take for getting them to work?

 

[kb2syd]

This is way too vague. Exactly which files do I need, and what procedure do I take for getting them to work?

Wow. Did you even bother to look at that page? There are 3 sets of 4 files. Pick a version of PASCAL you want to use. Download the four disk images for that version. They are Apple0 through Apple3. Put Apple1 in slot6 drive 1, put apple2 in slot6 drive 2. Boot the emulator.

 

[HoJoPo]

This is way too vague. Exactly which files do I need, and what procedure do I take for getting them to work?

I'm sorry, but if you can't figure it out from the linked documentation and disk images... you're probably not going to be able to do much with the language.

The above mentioned link on apple2.info clearly shows the APPLE1 and APPLE2 disk images you need, get the version 1.2 ones. In the emulator, load the APPLE1 image, http://apple2info.net/images/5/5d/Apple2Pascal_1.2-APPLE1.dsk into slot 6, d1, load the APPLE2 image, http://apple2info.net/images/5/5d/Apple2Pascal_1.2-APPLE2.dsk into slot 6, d2.

Apart from that, Read The Fine Manuals, as I linked earlier. We're not going to be able to take you step by step through creating a workfile and compiling it, it's covered in the manuals. Read this one specifically: http://apple2info.net/images/2/29/Apple_Pascal_Hands_On_Approach.pdf Apple Pascal: A Hands On Approach, it was frequently used in high schools to teach using Apple (UCSD) Pascal. It covers booting up, using the editor, compiling a program, etc.

By the way, the disk names (APPLE1, APPLE2) don't refer to the computer they're being used on, they're the actual volume names of the Apple Pascal language disks. The colon after the names is how Apple Pascal shows volume names....

 

[kb2syd]

Wow. Did you even bother to look at that page? There are 3 sets of 4 files. Pick a version of PASCAL you want to use. Download the four disk images for that version. They are Apple0 through Apple3. Put Apple1 in slot6 drive 1, put apple2 in slot6 drive 2. Boot the emulator.

Just tried it myself with appleiiwin

Took me longer to get the emulator running than to get the Pascal running

 

[Mister_Alex]

Sorry I didn't get back earlier, but the blizzard caused a lot of trouble here.
Yes, I was confused about the disk names. Thank you, HoJoPro for being patient with me.
I do load both Disks 1 and 2 into the emulator, but I keep getting an error: NO FILE SYSTEM.APPLE. Do I need boot disks or something?

 

[HoJoPo]

I messed up the link to the Apple2: disk I posted, here's the disk links again just in case:

http://apple2info.net/images/5/5d/Apple2Pascal_1.2-APPLE1.dsk

http://apple2info.net/images/6/6d/Apple2Pascal_1.2-APPLE2.dsk

I just downloaded them, put APPLE1 into drive 1 and APPLE2 into drive 2 on Applewin, and they booted up no problem into Pascal 1.2. APPLE1 is a bootable disk with SYSTEM.APPLE present.

 

[Mister_Alex]

I load the disk images in. And now it loads to a screen with a green cursor, and nothing else happens. Do I need a different emulator than Virtual II?