User`s guide

033- How can I set default volume and folder under ProDOS?
034- How can I discover the volume name of a just booted disk?
035- How do I create a folder?
036- How can I access ProDOS routines from machine language?
037- How can I convert DOS 3.3 wares to run under ProDOS?
038- How can I modify ProDOS to do BLOADs to Text Page 1?
039- How can I boot ProDOS on my Franklin computer?
040- What are some good DOS 3.3 and ProDOS references?
041- How can a BASIC program tell which DOS it's running under?
From: Rubywand
001- What is a "DOS"?
"DOS" means "Disk Operating System". A DOS is a collection of machine
language routines and data which lets a computer Read and Write information
to/from disk. A DOS also includes commands, such as SAVE and LOAD, which you can
use to create and access files on disk.
Apple II DOS, Commodore 64 DOS, and the DOS used on PC's are all called
"DOS"; but, they are different systems. Their commands are similar, sometimes
identical, because what users want to do with disks is about the same whatever
the computer. However, the way each DOS arranges and keeps track of data on disk
is very different. You will not, for example, be able to read files from a C-64
diskette on your Apple II running under DOS 3.3.
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002- What DOS's are available on Apple II computers?
DOS 3.3 is the first DOS to be widely used on Apple II computers. Many
programs were written to use DOS 3.3 commands and saved on DOS 3.3 diskettes.
Apple 'officially' replaced DOS 3.3 with ProDOS back in the early '80's.
However, DOS 3.3 continues to be popular with II users. To get DOS 3.3 from the
net, see Csa21MAIN4: Get It- Links to popular software packages.
Another Apple II DOS is the one introduced with Apple Pascal. Compared to
DOS 3.3 or ProDOS, the Apple Pascal DOS is a very limited, cumbersome operating
system.
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003- DOS 3.3 seems kind of slow. Are there any faster
better versions of DOS 3.3?
Yes. Today, most "DOS 3.3 users" do not actually use DOS 3.3. Long ago,
Beagle Bros introduced patches which resulted in much better speed, freed-up
extra disk space, and added a CATALOG command which shows number of Free
Sectors. Their Prontodos or some modification of it is, for practical purposes,
the "current version" of DOS 3.3.
ES DOS ][ adds a few mods to Prontodos. CATALOG shows Free Sectors and
Number of Tracks and it scrolls the entire Catalog (scrolling stopped by
pressing any key) instead of stopping when the screen is full. ES DOS ][ also