4 ms·

Apple II DOS source code released by Computer History Museum

118 points by iamtechaddict 13y ago

voltagex_ 13y ago
Direct blog post link: http://www.computerhistory.org/atchm/apple-ii-dos-source-code/ http://www.computerhistory.org/atchm/apple-ii-dos-source-cod... "With thanks to Paul Laughton, in collaboration with Dr. Bruce Damer, founder and curator of the DigiBarn Computer Museum, and with the permission of Apple Inc., we are pleased to make available the 1978 source code of Apple II DOS for non-commercial use. This material is Copyright © 1978 Apple Inc., and may not be reproduced without permission from Apple."
anemic 13y ago
I like how the meeting minutes(1) from 1978 resemble software development meetings of today. Especially Paul (Laughton) did have the same mentality as programmers today: Nobody who has looked into the DOS is sure why bug #2 exists Paul felt that bug #3 was trivial and he already knew how to fix it. Paul said that he could spend either3 to 4 days documenting the DOS, or he could fix the bugs, and wanted to know which we wanted. Paul still expressed some doubt as to what was causing bug #5, and bug #2 was a mystery. (1)https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3data.computerhistory.org/atchm/documents/Apple_DOS_meeting_5Oct1978.pdf https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3data.computerhistory.org/atchm/do...
- thearn4 13y ago
  No kidding. You could replace "DOS" with "______", then fill in any software project, and it would sound pretty spot on.
- pjmlp 13y ago
  I will continue to be like that until software development takes quality seriously and be accountable for defects, like in other industries.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
Macsenour 13y ago
Paul Laughton was my boss for a bit, his amazing effort doesn't surprise me a bit. I hope I have adopted some of his style into my own.
- swah 13y ago
  Can we know more about his style?
asmithmd1 13y ago
Even more impressive to me is Woz's 5 chip disk controller and hand assembled 6502 code. https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3data.computerhistory.org/atchm/documents/102723983-05-01-acc.pdf https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3data.computerhistory.org/atchm/do...
- analog31 13y ago
  That paper brings back memories... http://www.quill.com/ampad-engineers-pads/cbs/046009.html?cm_mmc=SEM_PLA_OS_046009 http://www.quill.com/ampad-engineers-pads/cbs/046009.html?cm...
codemac 13y ago
Anyone have thoughts on "effective meeting minutes?" I know David Allen only wants to see "Next Actions" at the end of a meeting, but I'm curious if anyone has insight into a long (5+ year) project where meeting minutes were looked back upon. My notes about my work (bug fix notes, development notes, etc) have been super helpful in the long term, but I've never really looked at meeting notes.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
- cek 13y ago
  >> If they ... read HN, I recommend the GPL. What data do you have that suggests the HN audience prefers GPL over other FOSS licenses? I, for example, find the GPL overly complicated and prefer more straightforward licenses such as the MIT license.
  - function_seven 13y ago
    I think he meant "If they can read this, I recommend the GPL".
WalterBright 13y ago
So that's how the code found its way into the Terminator!
- CamperBob2 13y ago
  Actually the Terminator listings were from Sandy Mossberg's "Disassembly Lines" column in Nibble magazine, where he published and discussed a commented disassembly listing of DOS. (Or at least some portions of it. I read Sandy's column religiously at the time, but I don't remember how far it went.)
colanderman 13y ago
Wow. If this had been available when I was learning Apple II assembly when I was 8, I would have lapped it up. (Heck, I still will for nostalgia's sake.) At least, I had the source code for some games from computing magazines; that was enough to get me started. That a major operating system today is open-source is a fantastic thing for young budding coders.
- joeshevland 13y ago
  Brings back memories of getting magazines like inCider [1] and Windfall and attempting to type out the assembler or machine code for little apps or (monochrome ;) graphics stuff. Was much the same as magic to me then. Then realizing there's a typo in there, somewhere... check digits helped a bit I think if whatever you used supported that. 1. http://apple2history.org/history/ah21/#03 http://apple2history.org/history/ah21/#03
- laureny 13y ago
  "Beneath Apple DOS" by Don Worth and Pieter Lechner was my bible back then. Reading this book absolutely blew my mind and opened up a world of possibilities, not mentioning a much more intimate knowledge of how copy protection worked on the Apple ][.
unix-dude 13y ago
Very cool, doubt I'll look into it too much considering its tons of Assembly in pdf form, but still super neat.
- markeganfuller 13y ago
  On that note I'm intrigued as to why the 'retyped' version is a .docx

118 points by iamtechaddict 13y ago

Direct blog post link: http://www.computerhistory.org/atchm/apple-ii-dos-source-code/ http://www.computerhistory.org/atchm/apple-ii-dos-source-cod... "With thanks to Paul Laughton, in collaboration with Dr. Bruce Damer, founder and curator of the DigiBarn Computer Museum, and with the permission of Apple Inc., we are pleased to make available the 1978 source code of Apple II DOS for non-commercial use. This material is Copyright © 1978 Apple Inc., and may not be reproduced without permission from Apple."

anemic 13y ago

I like how the meeting minutes(1) from 1978 resemble software development meetings of today. Especially Paul (Laughton) did have the same mentality as programmers today: Nobody who has looked into the DOS is sure why bug #2 exists Paul felt that bug #3 was trivial and he already knew how to fix it. Paul said that he could spend either3 to 4 days documenting the DOS, or he could fix the bugs, and wanted to know which we wanted. Paul still expressed some doubt as to what was causing bug #5, and bug #2 was a mystery. (1)https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3data.computerhistory.org/atchm/documents/Apple_DOS_meeting_5Oct1978.pdf https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3data.computerhistory.org/atchm/do...

thearn4 13y ago
No kidding. You could replace "DOS" with "______", then fill in any software project, and it would sound pretty spot on.
pjmlp 13y ago
I will continue to be like that until software development takes quality seriously and be accountable for defects, like in other industries.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]

Macsenour 13y ago

Paul Laughton was my boss for a bit, his amazing effort doesn't surprise me a bit. I hope I have adopted some of his style into my own.

swah 13y ago
Can we know more about his style?

asmithmd1 13y ago

Even more impressive to me is Woz's 5 chip disk controller and hand assembled 6502 code. https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3data.computerhistory.org/atchm/documents/102723983-05-01-acc.pdf https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3data.computerhistory.org/atchm/do...

analog31 13y ago
That paper brings back memories... http://www.quill.com/ampad-engineers-pads/cbs/046009.html?cm_mmc=SEM_PLA_OS_046009 http://www.quill.com/ampad-engineers-pads/cbs/046009.html?cm...

codemac 13y ago

Anyone have thoughts on "effective meeting minutes?" I know David Allen only wants to see "Next Actions" at the end of a meeting, but I'm curious if anyone has insight into a long (5+ year) project where meeting minutes were looked back upon. My notes about my work (bug fix notes, development notes, etc) have been super helpful in the long term, but I've never really looked at meeting notes.

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

cek 13y ago
>> If they ... read HN, I recommend the GPL. What data do you have that suggests the HN audience prefers GPL over other FOSS licenses? I, for example, find the GPL overly complicated and prefer more straightforward licenses such as the MIT license.
- function_seven 13y ago
  I think he meant "If they can read this, I recommend the GPL".

WalterBright 13y ago

So that's how the code found its way into the Terminator!

CamperBob2 13y ago
Actually the Terminator listings were from Sandy Mossberg's "Disassembly Lines" column in Nibble magazine, where he published and discussed a commented disassembly listing of DOS. (Or at least some portions of it. I read Sandy's column religiously at the time, but I don't remember how far it went.)

colanderman 13y ago

Wow. If this had been available when I was learning Apple II assembly when I was 8, I would have lapped it up. (Heck, I still will for nostalgia's sake.) At least, I had the source code for some games from computing magazines; that was enough to get me started. That a major operating system today is open-source is a fantastic thing for young budding coders.

joeshevland 13y ago
Brings back memories of getting magazines like inCider [1] and Windfall and attempting to type out the assembler or machine code for little apps or (monochrome ;) graphics stuff. Was much the same as magic to me then. Then realizing there's a typo in there, somewhere... check digits helped a bit I think if whatever you used supported that. 1. http://apple2history.org/history/ah21/#03 http://apple2history.org/history/ah21/#03
laureny 13y ago
"Beneath Apple DOS" by Don Worth and Pieter Lechner was my bible back then. Reading this book absolutely blew my mind and opened up a world of possibilities, not mentioning a much more intimate knowledge of how copy protection worked on the Apple ][.

unix-dude 13y ago

Very cool, doubt I'll look into it too much considering its tons of Assembly in pdf form, but still super neat.

markeganfuller 13y ago
On that note I'm intrigued as to why the 'retyped' version is a .docx