eve@ssc-bee.UUCP (Michael Eve) (07/07/84)
(If this rehashes previous discussion, forgive me, but I am new
to the net. Besides, I'm mad.)
Flame on!
If you have read all of the sweetheart reviews of Prodos, beware!
Apple Computer may have a few gotcha's lurking there.
I just purchased Prodos for my aging Apple ][. I bought the standard "User
package" which consists of one disk containing Prodos and an updated FID
program, and a, quote, user's manual, unquote.
The blasted user's manual is not really a guide to Prodos at all, but a
120 page manual for Apple's anemic copy program (the aforementioned FID).
The manual does not contain the commands to access Prodos from Applesoft in
immediate mode (i.e., when you're staring at your screen and want to rename
a file, what do you type in), or in deferred mode (what used to be ^D
commands in the ol' DOS 3.3), or the assembly language interface.
Now I expect a user's manual to an operating system to tell me how to use
the operating system, not just one utility program . (*&^%! 120 pages for a
copy program --- 10 pages would have been quite adequate.)
If you want to use the operating system, there are 2 other manuals to purchase:
1) The Prodos Technical Reference Manual ($40!!!!)
2) Basic Programming with Prodos (price unknown)
This marketing approach by Apple seems to be just another instance of Apple
Computer's disdain for knowledgable programmers and a ripoff of consumers.
Flame off!
A QUESTION:
Does anyone know if there are second sources for information about using,
really using, Prodos? Apple certainly seems to have created a niche for a
reasonably priced user's manual from somebody like Sam's.
(another question)
If I do buy the manual(s) from Apple, which one should I buy? Does the
Technical Reference manual contain all the facts in the Basic Programming
manual?
A COMMENT:
For a new operating system, Prodos is still laughably archaic. Filenames
cannot begin with a digit so if you have a stock portfolio and want a file
on 3M, you have to call it THREE_M or some such nonsense. Isn't it more work
to put such restrictions in rather than leaving them out? I am afraid when
I finally start using Prodos I will find more such inadequacies.
(Woz, how could you let them do this?)
Mike Evegwyn@brl-tgr.ARPA (Doug Gwyn <gwyn>) (07/09/84)
The ProDOS User's Kit is intended for the naive computer user. The User's Disk provides the utilities necessary to format volumes, copy them, rename files, and so forth. The ProDOS Technical Reference Manual (part of the WorkBench series) contains complete information for the machine-language programmer. BASIC Programming with ProDOS explains how to do DOS 3.3-style file access from Applesoft BASIC. To their credit, Apple has made old DOS 3.3 BASIC programs continue to work under ProDOS, in spite of significant structural differences between the two operating systems. - from the terminal of a happy ProDOS/ProFile programmer
gwyn@BRL-VLD.ARPA (07/31/84)
From: Doug Gwyn (VLD/VMB) <gwyn@BRL-VLD.ARPA> Yes, the ProDOS technical manual (and system call exerciser floppy) is now available. I didn't know that "Beneath Apple DOS" (not published by Apple) had a source listing of DOS; my copy doesn't. I would definitely pay substantial $$ for the ProDOS sources..
KSPROUL@RUTGERS.ARPA (08/04/84)
About ProDOS formatting, If you are a ProDOS developer, you can get from apple source code to their format routine. It comes with nonsence labels, NO comments, and MUST be assembled starting on a page boundry for timing constraints... Keith Sproul Ksproul@Rutgers.arpa -------